Focus On The Family Presents: Irreplaceable

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Audience Member A must-see film about the dramatic impact the absence of fathers has on our culture. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review Audience Member This documentary has received mixed reviews. Critics have accused the film's makers of bias. For one thing, they do not even investigate whether other types of families, are capable of producing happy, well adjusted children. Still, Irreplaceable does ask questions that are worth talking about. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Audience Member Fantastic - This could well be the antidote to many problems the world faces today? Watch it, learn it, do the Family Project?. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Audience Member Doesn't it strike you as slightly ironic when people - under the banner of tolerance - say things like, "I'm surprised this was on the big screen" or "I want this banned from all theaters"? Anyway, I wish I didn't feel compelled to talk about that, what I'd really like to talk about is the film itself. This is a rhetorical documentary. Make no doubt about it, the goal here is to pose some unpopular questions about what family means today. It does not attempt to be even handed. The approach it took was to interview a series of people who sing the praises of the biological nuclear family and who talk about the societal breakdown that occurs when the model does not stay intact. From fatherless prison inmates to a female professor who sees the dark side of women's "liberation", the voices speak from their experience. Personally, I think it was overambitious to address so many topics in one film - it ends up feeling a bit thin in places. However, I enjoyed the mix of folks from different countries and life experiences sharing their perspectives. I think the director made an interesting choice by allowing what seems almost a jarring combination of settings and tones. Each interview stands on its own and I am happy that they didn't try to bend each one to fit some pre-determined story line. The editorial grouping that creates the "story-line" feels open handed. The film's ending was a bit of a surprise to me. The narrator turns the camera lens on the "perfect" nuclear family of his childhood. He exposes its ugly secrets; infidelity, misogyny, lies, and cruelty. He deconstructs his own opinion and acknowledges that no one lives up to the imaginary perfect family (perfect father, mother, child, etc.). His final resolutions about the value in his own position as a father focus on forgiveness, humility, grace and vulnerability. I think the questions posed by this film are something that anyone (from any walk of life) could benefit from considering - without having to change their world view or feel condemned. I thought it was good - not great. A fairly sincere and thoughtful editorial. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Audience Member If you want to see a bunch of gaybashing bigots enjoy each others mutual hysteria and paranoia then this over the top garbage is perfect for your Klan rally! COM Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Audience Member Raises important questions about the impact of our choices. Could have been significantly improves by citing sources of statistics and clarifying some of the opposing views (like Plato's view), but overall a great film to start the discussion. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Focus On The Family Presents: Irreplaceable

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