September 12, 2022
Beware of Christians is a 2011 documentary with an especially provocative title, but don’t be fooled—it’s a Christian documentary through and through.
It features four college-age friends (director Will Bakke and his friends Michael, Matt, and Alex) who travel to Europe for the purpose of—so they say—rediscovering their own faith, making their faith their own, and getting out of their Church bubble to truly discover why they believe as they do.
The film cuts between footage taken while abroad and round table discussions presumably filmed months later, in which the four guys analyze their experience and talk it out for us, the audience.
I actually saw this film back when it came out. I was in college at the time, just like the guys in the film (they’re a bit older than me) and after they completed the film, they took it on the road and screened it on campuses across the country. This was back when I was a Christian and heavily involved as a youth leader. When my friends and I heard a Christian documentary was being shown at the student union, we eagerly headed over to watch it. The four guys did an on-stage Q&A afterward.
I remember liking it at the time. Then as the years wore on I completely forgot about it. It wasn’t until recently that it randomly struck back into my mind like lighting, and I was like “Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that documentary. Whatever happened to it?”
I found it pretty quickly on a streaming service and knew I needed to rewatch it. When I first saw it over a decade ago, I remember nodding my head along through the whole thing in agreement. I’d even bought a copy on DVD to show to the youth group guys who were in the Bible study I was leading at the time. I wondered how the film would strike me now that I’ve long since deconverted.
Here’s my review of my post-deconversion watch of the documentary Beware of Christians.
Introduction
In one of the very first scenes, before the group strikes out on their trip abroad, one of the guys asks the others, “What are we going to tell people when they ask why we went to Europe?” They declared their intentions for their quest, which was to explore their faith in a setting outside of their Texas hometown.
I had to pause right then and there. That feeling hit me hard—the one where I felt the need to process every single thing in my life through a God lens.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to take a Eurotrip with your bros “just cuz.” Literally nothing. But when you’re a young Christian, “just cuz” is never good enough. It all has to “glorify God” in some way. So right off the bat we hear these guys trying to justify a summer spent abroad in the eyes of the Lord.
The scene does, however, give us a loose structure as to what to expect in the film. Each city they visit will have a different “theme” that they’ll explore from a Christian perspective. They’ll also interview people about said theme.
London—Identity
First off, our adventurers hit London, and the theme of the city is identity—exploring what it means to identify as a Christian in the modern era.
One of the first people they interview (it might literally be the first person) in London gives an honest and extremely reasonable answer when they ask him what he thinks about Christians: “I don’t care what god people believe in. I just have a problem with the church and organized religion.”
I mean, yeah. Spot on.
One of the guys (Alex, I think) connects two neurons together and comes to the realization that pretty much his entire faith (and worldview) is a result of where he happened to be born.
I’m not sure why it takes many Christians so long to figure this out. I just don’t understand how it never occurs to some how “miraculous” it was that they got introduced at a young age to the Universe’s “correct” religion simply because they happened to have been born in Bumshit, Texas.
Paris—Materialism
Our gallivanting gang next travels to Paris and immediately notices that everyone is dressed nicely. Therefore, they decide the theme of the city is materialism—because wanting to dress nice makes one materialistic, as we’ve all learned (either explicitly or implicitly) in youth group.
One featured interview presents us once again with an extremely reasonable perspective. Will asks if people get judged by their outside appearance, to which we hear something along the lines of: “Yes, how you present yourself matters. First impressions matter, even if we don’t like it.” In addition, another interviewee reminds us that clothes can be a way to express your uniqueness.
All very reasonable.
Not for our heroes. They solemnly remind themselves that “God doesn’t care about what’s on the outside, but what’s on the inside.” Quite the Vacation Bible School conclusion, if you ask me. They asked a lot of questions, but didn’t seem to really be listening to the responses.
At least Alex has a moment of self awareness. He shares with us that, where he comes from, he’s used to everyone having a lot of things. He says his entire world is comprised of people who are Christians who own nice things and drive nice cars. He stated that the name of his childhood neighborhood was “Highland Park.”
I can just picture it now—it’s a snapshot of the people I went to church with. He grew up in a mid-to-upper class, predominantly white area of his Texas town and he hasn’t really known much else.
Props to him for finally pausing to think about this.
Barcelona—Sex and Relationships
Our intrepid protagonists accidentally wander (so they claim) onto a nude beach and giggle at all the titties (all of which were left on the cutting room floor, I’m afraid). It doesn’t take them long to declare the city’s theme. They proceed to interview nude beach attendees about their views on sex before marriage.
Two extremely attractive women simply state, “No, it’s not wrong” while seeming confused as to why they’re being asked.
Two guys offer up their own straight-faced opinions: “It’s normal and essential.”
Another girl: “Sex is amazing and you should try it before you get married.”
An older woman gives a more thoughtful response, likely inferring the angle from which these guys were coming from: “Today’s concept of marriage is very different from the traditional concept.”
Perhaps the most cringe question of the entire documentary is posed to two young ladies: “When you get dressed in the morning, do you do so while considering whether you’ll be sexually attractive to men?”
I had to pause and hang my head. I didn’t have the eyes to see it ten years ago, but now I do. This question is deeply rooted in purity culture. You can tell these guys have sat through many a sermon given by bro youth pastors who have reinforced in them the idea that it’s somehow the woman’s responsibility to protect her “brothers in Christ” from stumbling into “sexual temptation.”
In a present-day roundtable scene, Michael—who seems to be the most “spiritual” of the bunch (you know the type)—confirms this when he reflects on their time in Barcelona. With all twenty-one years of his wisdom, he states that, “Guys want it more for the physical desire while girls want it more for the emotional attachment.” Every word of that sentence reeks of regurgitation from college-program sermons and not from any kind of real world (or real relationship) experience. I remember being told the exact same thing. Then I grew up, went out into the world, and realized that when it comes to sex and relationships, things can be very nuanced, unique, and multifaceted.
Barcelona is also where the group meets two American girls who they surmise are traveling abroad. These girls are able to speak their language—i.e. Christianese. These girls went to church and you can tell. The conversation is presented as deep, mature, and serious against the backdrop of the setting sun with nice music in the background. Filmmaker Will Bakke is letting us know that he and his friends have found a brief respite of faithfulness in what has otherwise been a spiritually empty jaunt through Europe.
Rome—Church
There’s lots of churches in Rome, so that’s the theme.
The Fellowship of the Documentary took the long way there, however. They’d intended to go to Genoa, Italy but accidentally bought train tickets to Geneva, Switzerland. I actually laughed out loud and found this legitimately funny. In my travel experience, it’s those kinds of simple mistakes that often lead to the best stories and experiences.
Anyway, church.
They conduct more interviews, but not before buying costumes of armor, swords, and shields, and fighting outside the Coliseum, quoting the film Gladiator. As I said in my article 5 Films Christian Men Love (And Why), Christian men just can’t get enough of Gladiator.
One girl they interview about church had this to say: “The building is beautiful, but I think God would rather the money be spent on helping the poor.” These guys sure do have a knack for speaking with people with level-headed points of view.
Another guy: “I’m not religious, but I do have my own principles and I live by those.” I got the feeling the film was trying to portray this guy as arrogant.
They continue to ponder the Church as they wander into St. Peter’s Square.
Michael can’t help but slide in some pithy one-liners: “Jesus came to establish a kingdom, not a religion. He’s the progressive one.”
Alex (or maybe it’s Matt) says, “We built palaces for Jesus.” Nope, wrong. They built palaces for the Pope and other religious leaders.
In the end, our friends conclude yet another Sunday school answer: “It’s about the gospel and about love, not a religion with a bunch of rules.” Tell that one to your head pastor and he’ll agree with you but also be quick to remind that your ass had better be in church on Sunday morning, tithe money in hand and ready to drop in the offering plate.
It’s in Rome that we’re introduced to a humorous subplot: Matt has been sending postcards from every city they visit to a mysterious girl. For some reason, Matt has entrusted Will, Michael, and Alex to mail them off for him, but they don’t. Instead, they read the sappy messages to the camera for our enjoyment.
What amused me was that in one of the postcards, Matt wrote, “How is camp?” I remember those summers when half my friends went away to work at Christian camps.
Budapest—Wealth/Poverty
We follow our delightful band of would-be roamers to Budapest, where they decide to fast for a day and use the money they would’ve spent on food, “to help a poor person… or someone who needs our help.”
How gracious of them to think that people in Budapest need the help of some wandering, backpacking Americans. I wonder how many mission trips these guys have been on.
My favorite quote of the movie comes here from Alex: “We’re hungry, which is ironic because… we’re fasting.” I spit my drink out. I was expecting the dad joke punchline of, “we’re in Hungary” but he pulled a fast one on me. I honestly don’t know if he understood that he’d made a joke.
Anyway, our team struggles to find a way to “help poor people” in a foreign country that “uses a very strange currency.” They encounter a man named Victor who happens to be a Christian and speaks the local language, so they team up with him to go buy clothes for “poor people.” Although this was not a mission trip, this right here demonstrates one of the biggest problems with mission work undertaken by western Evangelical churches: if you don’t know the language, you probably shouldn’t be there trying to help because you’re severely limited in your practical logistics.
Our guys really grapple with what their role is with “poor people.” But they can’t really get their grip on it—they don’t have a holistic perspective because they’re trying to force it through a God lens and don’t understand the true origins of poverty or what it’s potential solutions are. I don’t blame them; it’s a symptom of being young. I’m sure that now, ten years later, these guys have a better sense of it all.
Vienna—Media/Entertainment
Our vagabonding nomads proceed to Vienna where they get in touch with one of Victor’s friends—a guy who placed 11th in the Austrian Idol singing competition.
They try to figure out how to glorify Jesus with their decisions about the entertainment they choose to engage in. The verse, “Do not conform to the pattern of the world,” comes up, as it always did in youth group when talking about this very subject.
Director Bakke admits to going to see Superbad with his roommates and thinking it was funny. Again, it sucks that he has to feel guilty about this (although I felt the same way at the time).
I’ve written about his before, particularly in my book. People—like Bakke—who want to create art (such as films) have a desire to portray the world realistically. However they “can’t” because they feel they need to use all their talents for God. I went through this struggle myself, as did a number of my creative friends. I really sympathized with him here.
Munich—Alcohol
The wayfaring companions hop a train to their next destination and once again have an easy time deciding on a theme. The four guys raise the question: “How do you approach alcohol in college?” Ah yes. Yet another popular sermon topic.
However, they decide to do boots-on-the-ground research—they conduct their interviews with the locals while doing a pub crawl. It seems they’re finally figuring out how to do a proper Eurotrip.
“Why do you drink?” they ask two women.
“It’s fun,” they respond. They explain that they know Christians, but they also drink. However, they have a Muslim friend who doesn’t drink. Our friends skip over that Muslim friend and press the issue with the Christian. The German locals shrug and say the Christian just doesn’t really have a strong opinion of it.
Once again… reasonable.
It’s here that we also get an update on the postcard subplot. One of the letters finishes off with:
“I’ll keep you in my prayers.
In him,
Matt”
That took me back. What was with everyone ending letters and emails with “in him.”?
Lucenre (Switzerland)—Reflection
Our journeymen reach their final city in which they decide to dispense with a specific theme and spend their final days in a “quiet time” where they can reflect upon their experiences. They narrate some more conclusions and lessons learned reminiscent of Sunday school, youth group, and college pastor sermons.
Conclusion
Beware of Christians is a ninety minute documentary about four young men who sensed there was something wrong with “American Christianity,” so they went to Europe to figure it out. And they largely discovered that most people abroad don’t really give a shit. The only Christians they spoke to were Victor in Budapest and two American girls who were studying abroad. What could have been an excellent opportunity for deconstruction turned into mental gymnastics and logic backflips as they tried to force all that they were experiencing into their small, Texas-town worldview. Not for a single second did any of them consider opening themselves up to something else.
I realize it’s not really fair for me to review the 2011 version of these guys (and that’s just when the film came out; everything we saw was likely filmed in the summer of 2009 or 2010). It’s been more than a decade since the release of Beware of Christians, so I have no doubt that our four friends have changed a lot in that time frame.
After the film, I naturally wondered what they were up to now. With some quick internet sleuthing I learned that Will Bakke is continuing to make films, Alex is a successful entrepreneur, and Matt I couldn’t track down. Michael, the “very spiritual type” of the group, has released music and briefly alluded to a “loss of faith” in a social media post regarding his debut album. If you’re reading this site, then you likely know how painful and challenging that is. I wish him the best.
Should you watch Beware of Christians? Why the hell not? If you want a nostalgic trip down southern American 2010’s Evangelicalism, give it a shot. Despite my snark in this review, it was an amusing experience for me to say the least.