MISCELLANY

Movie Review: Flywheel

2Co 5:17 : Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Flywheel “And Lord, I ask that you treat Jay just like he treated me today in this deal.” So prays a minister over a dishonest car dealer, a minister who has just been unknowingly cheated by the dealer.

Used-car-dealer Jay Austin (played by Alex Kendrick) lies to his customers on his car lot and, at home, is experiencing failure both as a husband and as a father. He is a church-goer, but his relationship with God is an empty sham (literally, it seems — his contribution to the collection plate, for example, is an empty envelope).

But Jay's life begins to turn in on him. The bank calls to let him know his car lot will be repossessed if he doesn't come up with $32,400 by the end of the month. He knows that his son does not respect him. (Earlier he had overheard his son confide to a friend, “I don't really want to be like my dad,” explaining, “sometimes he lies to people.”) When Jay's wife Judy confronts him for cheating their pastor, he explodes, “Shut your mouth!” Finally, when he overhears his own salesman, Bernie, cheat another customer, he seems to reach his breaking point. “You grossly manipulated her,” Jay tells Bernie. “You taught me how!” Bernie fires back.

A little while later, Jay begins talking about the crisis he's in with his mechanic Max. Max tells Jay, “So I should pray for you — maybe you should pray for you.” Max is working on a sports car. He explains to Jay that the car's flywheel is probably stripped. “The starter engages your flywheel. Your flywheel engages your crankshaft. And your crankshaft starts your engine. Without your flywheel, you're not going anywhere.” The flywheel, then, becomes the metaphor for the Lord in your life. Max continues, “When I learned to let the Lord run my life, my life got a whole lot better. I don't mean to preach at you, but I just know I needed him.”

It's not clear from the movie if Jay had been saved earlier in his life and now just needs to rededicate himself to the Lord, or if he has never accepted Jesus as Lord in the first place. In any case, back at home, Jay finally prays. “Oh Lord, I don't want your face against me. I need you. Help me, Jesus. You're in charge now. You're the boss.”

Needless to say, Jay's life does change, and God begins to bless him in big ways.

Filmed in Albany, Georgia, with a budget of only $20,000, with characters largely played by members of a local Baptist church, Flywell has a ring of truth to it. This is how God works. He is not a special effect. He is instead a personal God who answers prayer, sometimes with amazing twists and turns.

I loved the small-town feel of the movie (although Albany, apparently, is large enough to have local TV stations). I loved the gentleness of the dialogue and manners. Even during his dishonest phase, Jay is unfailingly polite, with his “Yes, sir” replies, even to the banker threatening foreclosure. Although he lies to his customers, he never lies to his wife (hey, Jay, don't tell her how much you over charged the pastor — d'oh!). And sometimes his dark crimes really don't seem that dark at all: when he throws away the picture his son colored early on in the movie, it was more of a crime of inattentiveness rather than meaness or cruelty. Of course, maybe that's the point, it really doesn't matter how bad you are, even when you're just a little bad, you still need Jesus.

Flywell is a gentle movie about faith and redemption that I enjoyed very much.

Flywheel — 2003 — Alex Kendrick, Janet Lee Dapper, Walter Burnett, Tracy Goode — Directed by Alex Kendrick

Back to — Movie Reviews