When: Thursday, February 18, 2016 at 6:30 P.M.
Where: Eidson-Duckwall Recital Hall in Butler University’s Robertson Hall
Click here to view the film’s trailer
Is it possible to dramatically change oneself? In this film it is a brutal murderer who re-emerges as an evangelist, but in a larger sense, the concept applies widely. Can prisoners be rehabilitated? Can perpetrators of violence later lead nations? Can we move beyond our own past sins and be a better, different person? The answer is not clear as we are each unique and the capability of the human mind is mysterious. Most likely the answer varies from person to person, but how do we know the difference between real change and a con? Can everyone who wants to change pull it off? Can we trust the change is genuine – in ourselves, in others?
This film is the story of Joshua Milton Blahyi – aka General Butt Naked – a brutal warlord who murdered thousands during Liberia’s horrific 14-year civil war. Today, the General has renounced his violent past and reinvented himself as Evangelist Joshua Milton Blahyi. This portrait takes viewers on Joshua’s crusade to redeem his past, as he confronts his victims and attempts to rehabilitate the former child soldiers who once fought for him. Whatever you make of him — liar or madman, charlatan or genuine repentant — the film challenges viewers to ask important questions about both the power and the limits of forgiveness, amid a nation’s search for healing and justice.
This film contains violent themes and graphic scenes from the Liberian civil war.
About A New View Film Series:
Each of us has a unique view through which we see the world. Shaped by our experiences, culture, and familial identity, this view forms our beliefs, values, and way of life. A New View Film Series will journey outside everyday life to explore new worldviews through the screening of five films. Each screening will be followed by a discussion of the film lead by Louise Henderson, former Festival Director and Head Documentary Programmer for Heartland Film Festival, now an independent film producer and film festival consultant. The series will take place every other month from August 2015 through April 2016 at Butler University’s Eidson-Duckwall Recital Hall. The series is free and open to the public.
Presented and Facilitated by the Desmond Tutu Center, Center for Interfaith Cooperation, and Butler University’s Amnesty International and Center for Faith and Vocation
