FILMS

Describing Silent Light (NR) as slow is an understatement. However, the surreal ending makes it worth it, as do the nonprofessional actors in lead roles and as extras. Set in a Prussian Mennonite community in Northern Mexico, the film follows a Mennonite farmer who is having an affair with another Mennonite woman. Director Carlos Reygadas plays deftly with one’s senses and understanding of time throughout the 145-minute film.—Anna Groff

District 9 (R) is a sci-fi film that also addresses the subject of prejudice. Set in South Africa, where a group of stranded aliens is placed in a shantytown, the film uses a documentary style that’s not consistent. Though full of logical holes, this unique film raises important questions about how we deal with the stranger.—gh

BOOKS

The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus by Dale C. Allison Jr. (Eerdmans, 2009, $16) describes Jesus scholar Allison’s “personal testimony to doubt seeking understanding.” He shows the discord among the experts and what a large role personal agendas play in their reconstruction of the historical Jesus. Allison asks how much history is in the Gospels and how much history does Christian theology require there to be.

Looking Before and After: Testimony and the Christian Life by Alan Jacobs (Eerdmans, 2009, $14) argues that we need “better and more responsible and more coherent personal stories.” Jacobs encourages us to ask how our lives can be meaningful in a Christian sense. Testimony has become a lost art that needs to be recovered.