Let’s Talk About . . . ‘Between Mercy and Me’

By Andrew Wood 

Movies bring people of all backgrounds together like few other events. We want to provide talking points to help you take those conversations about movies with family and friends to a deeper, spiritual level. Starting from this common ground, you can find opportunities to share your own faith experience with others. Check out the discussion questions at the end. 

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Between Mercy and Me 

Rating TBD • 2023 • Christian Drama • 1 hour 50 minutes 

Starring: Andrea Summer, David Driskill, Michael Brown, James Troup, Kyndra Jeffries 

A one-night theatrical release occurred June 20. Collide Distribution will share future release information (including streaming opportunities). 

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Between Mercy and Me is a Christian drama that explores issues of race, urban renewal, and relationships between Christians living in the same city, worshipping in nearby churches, but living in entirely different worlds. Directed by Craig Lamar Brown and produced by Chase Crawford and Ashlee Mello, the film releases today, June 20. It is as yet unrated, but early reviewers suggest a rating of PG-13 may be suitable.  

The film skillfully interweaves original music by co-star Andrea Summer between tense, thought-provoking episodes, keeping viewers thinking about important unspoken issues. 

SIMMERING TENSIONS, MUSIC, AND LOVE 

The story is set in a distressed urban neighborhood that is being rapidly gentrified. White residents are thrilled by the coffee shops, boutiques, and trendy apartments that are moving in, but the area’s predominantly Black population resents the changing culture and the closure of longstanding mom-and-pop businesses. Against this background, the robbery of a local store raises tension and concern about the neighborhood’s safety. 

Mercy, a White aspiring musician, has a couple of chance meetings with Hugo, a Black worship leader and songwriter. Despite initial awkward missteps, the two bond over their shared love of music, which blooms into love for each other as well. This results in predictable tensions in their families and with one another as the depth of the differences in their worldviews and life experiences become more evident. 

The movie doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable issues and emotions. The embarrassment is palpable as the protagonists misspeak and betray underlying prejudices.  

It’s painful to see how oblivious wealthy suburbanites are to the ways gentrification drives urban people from their communities. An encounter with police shows how very different the same situation is experienced by a White person and a Black person. But at the same time, Between Mercy and Me subtly calls out Black elitism as well.  

Hugo comes from a wealthy family that relocated to the suburbs and does little to help their old neighborhood, although they are upset about how it is changing. Hugo and his family defend Black culture but have themselves seemingly become assimilated into majority culture success narratives and materialistic values. 

THE HEALING POWER OF MUSIC 

The movie is not a musical, but music plays a central part in advancing the narrative. As the lead characters create and perform together, we see the potential people of different backgrounds have for creating beauty in the world together. At some of the most tense and uncomfortable moments of the film, a musical interlude seems to reduce the tension.  

Music in this movie at times is a lament, expressing sorrow over a seemingly intractable problem. At other times, it expresses hope against all hope that things can and will be better. And it’s a way that people who seemingly have little in common can find a common bond.  

While the movie does not offer music as a simplistic solution, it does demonstrate how it can help us process difficult emotions together, across racial lines. And that’s a start. 

A CONVERSATION STARTER 

Between Mercy and Me doesn’t have a simplistic happy ending. It’s more of a beginning. These are problems that can’t be solved in a couple of hours, and probably not even in a couple of lifetimes. But the film does succeed in raising a host of issues that have become “taboo” to talk about in the church because of the intense passions they arouse. If we don’t talk about what divides us, we will never have a chance to understand and reconcile with others.  

As Mercy says, “The message of Christ is reconciliation and we’re not supposed to just preach it, we’re supposed to embody it. If we believe in reconciliation, we must engage. Because our silence speaks volumes.” 

SEE FOR YOURSELF 

Between Mercy and Me had a limited theatrical release June 20. Collide Distribution will be sharing additional release information (including streaming opportunities). 

See a trailer for Between Mercy and Me. 

Download a free discussion guide. 

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 

If you’d like to take your discussion of this movie with others to a deeper level, try some of these questions: 

• Have you had an uncomfortable interaction with someone of another ethnic background? How have you overcome that and continued to engage with people different from yourself? 
• How do you think community development would be done differently if we saw the value and potential not just in a neighborhood’s architecture but in its people? 
• What are some ways the church can encourage and support interracial Christian couples facing challenges to their relationship from family and friends? 
• When has music helped you process deep emotions? What can you learn about the longings, frustrations, and joys of others from the music they listen to or perform? 
• What do you think Jesus is asking you to do to contribute to racial reconciliation? 

Andrew Wood, a former missionary to Ukraine and professor at Nebraska Christian College, is a freelance writer.