Persecuted (film)

Plot summary

Reformed drug addict and America's leading evangelist John Luther opposes Senator Donald Harrison's 'Faith and Fairness Act', which would not allow Christians to state that they have the whole/only truth. To destroy Luther's credibility and ensure passage of the bill, Harrison has Luther framed for the rape and murder of a teenaged girl.

Cast

Production

Principal photography took place in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The movie's production is finished, and it was screened at the February 2014 National Religious Broadcasters convention in Nashville, Tennessee, and on March 2014 at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, DC

Other media

Persecuted has been adapted into a book by Robin Parrish.

Release

Persecuted was released theatrically on July 18, 2014.

Critical reception

The film was widely panned by critics and is one of the worst-reviewed films of 2014. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 0% approval rating with an average rating of 2.5/10 based on 13 reviews. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 11 out of 100 based on 9 reviews, indicating "overwhelming dislike".

In a review for the New York Post, Kyle Smith wrote, "The Lord works in mysterious ways but Persecuted works in blundering, obvious ways, straining a Christianity-under-attack theme through a dopey thriller."

New York Times film critic Neil Genzlinger stated, "This terrible attempt at a political thriller for the religious right is aimed not at Christians in general but at a certain breed of them, the kind who feel as if the rest of the world were engaged in a giant conspiracy against their interpretation of good and truth."

Justin Chang of Variety concluded his scathing review with, "At a time when the world offers us no shortage of examples of what actual religious persecution looks like, for a film to indulge in this particular brand of self-righteous fearmongering isn’t just clueless or reckless; it’s an act of contemptible irresponsibility."