This movie has come back in the news namely because the court case where Mike Huckabee robocalled everybody to promote this movie finally was decided and the makers need to pay out some $32 million dollars in damages. That's a little more than $10.00 per person though but it made me remember this movie all over again.

This takes place in an America that never was. It's an America where kids aren't allowed to bring bibles to school. There's never been any law like this on the books except you can't read from the bible in class nor can you teach the bible instead of actual history or science. It's a world where you can't have Christmas decorations anywhere. It's a world where kids never heard of Christmas carols because they don't play them on the radio anymore. In short, this is not happening anywhere in this country.

But that never stopped people with an agenda from pushing it and acting like they're the persecuted minority when last time I checked just about everybody in this country celebrates Christmas to one degree or another.

It's badly acted, poorly produced and has elements in it that simply aren't true no matter how much the makers want it to be true.

Avoid this unless you happen to like that kind of thing. Or even better, try to find a real Christmas movie if you're in the mood for one.

The previous reviewer's negative, anti-Christian and anti-American rhetoric almost seems deliberately contrived because it perfectly underscores the struggle that the protagonists in this beautiful story endured. This movie is about courage, triumph and redemption, in that order. The subliminal point of the movie's main hero is that when we willingly give up the "bread of freedom", one crumb at a time, we lose track of when the whole loaf is gone. This is also exemplified in the quote taken from Ronald Reagan's California Gubernatorial address in January of 1967, both at the beginning as well as the end of the story. Marshall Teague and Jennifer O'Neil are masterful in their interpretation of a senior couple still very much in love and just as importantly, still in unmitigated support of one another. The rest of the cast without exception, does a superb job of interpreting the various threads of the story line, whether their roles are villainous or virtuous.

I cannot recommend this movie enough to anyone who is proud of what it MEANS to be an American and what it means to believe in someone much greater than ourselves. See it with someone you love, particularly if that someone includes a man or woman who's served or is currently serving in our Armed Forces.

Apparently America is about shoving Christianity and Christmas down your throat. Guess what? Children ARE allowed to bring their bible to school. You ARE allowed to decorate your house in Christmas decorations. Public places CAN decorate their place for Christmas. What's not allowed is when people in the work place tries to shove their religion down your throat. People working at Starbucks don't care if you say that your name is "Merry Christmas." They really don't. They get paid either way. Malls are still going to have people dressed up as Santa Claus every year. People are still going to have religious Christmas music playing in the background. Christmas is still the #1 holiday in America. Shut up about being "oppressed." Your rights aren't taken away from you if your neighbor doesn't decorate their house for Christmas.

I went to the capital in Madison Wisconsin, probably the most liberal place I've been to, and they had their Christmas tree up. They were getting ready to have a public nativity play. But of course, there were still people mad by the quote basically saying that it's okay to believe in whatever religion you want to believe in because it called religion a "myth."

Calm down.