A Great Awakening review: an inspiring faith-based historical drama
Sight & Sound Films’ A Great Awakening explores the friendship between George Whitefield and Benjamin Franklin and frames their story against the tensions of the Constitutional Convention. The film takes some cinematic liberties while remaining historically accurate overall. It highlights the spiritual dimensions of America’s founding and has drawn mixed critical reviews alongside strong audience reception.
- A Great Awakening follows George Whitefield and Benjamin Franklin through a framed flashback narrative.
- The story contrasts Whitefield’s evangelical conviction with Franklin’s Enlightenment rationalism.
- The review notes the film’s overall historical accuracy while acknowledging cinematic liberties.
By Rick Cherok
Film overview
A Great Awakening is a faith-based historical drama released by Sight & Sound Films to theaters nationwide on April 3, 2026. The movie explores the lives and complex friendships of two seventeenth-century figures who influence their generation and inspired the formation of the United States: George Whitefield (1714-1770) and Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790).
As an evangelist, Whitefield, in company with John and Charles Wesley, sparked the Evangelical Revival in England and contributed to the establishment of the Methodist Movement. When he carried the revival movement across the Atlantic to the British colonies it resulted in the first Great Awakening in America and Whitefield himself became the first widely recognized celebrity throughout the American colonies. His friendship with Franklin began when the Philadelphia printer, ever the astute businessman, realized the economic gain that could be made by publishing the popular preacher’s sermons and other writings.
Story frame and key moments
The movie begins in 1787 with Franklin, the elder American statesman, observing the seemingly irreconcilable conflicts of the Constitutional Convention. While at home during a break from the convention, Franklin and his grandson examine some aged documents related to Whitefield, who had died nearly 20 years earlier. When asked about Whitefield influence on the young nation, Franklin explained to his grandson (Benny Franklin Bache), “George Whitefield was the Revolution.” The conversation between Franklin and his grandson resulted in a series of flashbacks that frame the unfolding stories of the two men and their eventual friendship.
Throughout their friendship, Whitefield remained the ever-committed Evangelical minister calling on his colonial audiences to accept the new birth and become followers of Christ. Franklin, on the other hand, embraced a more rational, Enlightenment mindset that could not accept Whitefield’s Christian message. One of the pivotal moments in the movie came when a dying Whitefield called upon his long-time friend to recognize his need for Christ above his personal ambitions and self-reliance. Franklin resisted the urges from Whitefield and touted his virtuous life as more beneficial than that of most Christians. Franklin further rebuked the great preacher for crediting God for saving his orphanage rather than the slave labor he employed at his children’s home. Whitefield encouraged his friend to refrain from looking to his or any other human’s virtue, but to look to Christ. The two men departed from one another at that point as Whitefield apparently died shortly thereafter and Franklin went on to become one of the leading advocates for the formation of the United States of America.
Following Franklin’s recollections of his relationship with Whitefield, the movie returned to the elder statesman’s latter life and the dire situation he found himself in at the Constitutional Convention. At a crucial moment in the convention, just as it appeared set to disband into failure, Franklin’s reflections on Whitefield inspired him to turn toward faith and save the convention by calling for a time of prayer.
Historical accuracy and assessment
While A Great Awakening takes a few cinematic liberties in telling this story, it is historically accurate overall and largely based upon the actual words and actions of the figures it represents. Some have criticized the movie for failing to demonstrate the power of Whitefield’s sermons, but these critics naively overlook the power of the sermon in an age before audio or video recordings.
A Great Awakening is an inspiring and educational movie that highlights the spiritual dimensions of America’s founding in an entertaining and a true-to-history fashion. Critics have offered mixed reviews of the movie, but Rotten Tomatoes reports a 97% audience approval rating for the film.
