Gold Through the Fire

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Audience Member <i>Gold Through the Fire</i> is a hilariously inept Christian film from the '80s whose humor value should be obvious from the synopsis: a Russian boy immigrates to the U.S. to avoid religious persecution, but finds that he is not free from persecution here either. The acting is, of course, atrocious. The young boy David (Kris Wolff) was probably my favorite, utilizing a forced facial expression for every line, and doing silly dances to prove how cool and secular he is. See, Peter (Harlan) has been placed with a host family in the States and is slowly becoming accustomed to our American ways, going to public high school and working at a Chuck E. Cheese knock-off. At first excited about the possibilities of life in the States, Peter soon realizes the terrors that await him. For instance, while in his science class, the teacher mentions that the world is over <i>four-hundred-and-fifty-million years old!</i> What fresh blasphemy is this? Thankfully, Peter is here to inform the class that that is impossible and the teacher is not telling the truth. When he gets sent to the principal's office, students caught smoking and commiting vandalism are excused in order to deal with this more pressing matter of introducing God into a public high school. For Pete's sake, separation of church and state, man! Oh, how Christians are persecuted in America. There are constantly bullies threatening to flush Peter's beloved Bible down the toilet, and other people are afraid to admit to being Christian in public. Meanwhile, secret Russian agents (this is during the Cold War after all), are having melodramatic meetings with Peter at Chuck E. Cheese, encouraging him to return to Russia and give up this whole freedom of religion thing. It all comes down to a thrilling courtroom battle over whether Peter has the right to talk about the Bible in the school cafeteria (duh), since the principal and a parent are so sure of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights including the phrase "separation of church and state". Boy, are they in for a surprise! <i>Gold Through the Fire</i> stretches the limits of your ability to suspend your disbelief, painting believers as oppressed with souls crushed by the over-powering tide of secularism. One kid taunts Peter, "Do you have any U2 records?" Ouch. That's a low blow. When over-acting twelve-year-old David finally sees the light and gives up his unbelieving ways, he throws out all of his Playboy magazines, and... a bong? The movie is absolutely ridiculous, riveting, and revolting. In short, I loved it. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Gold Through the Fire

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