"A Stunning Example of Christian Faith"
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What You Need To Know:
THE 21 mixes beautiful but haunting animation with clips from the real-life event. The movie reveals how admirable these 21 martyrs were. It encourages viewers to emulate them. THE 21 stresses Christian, biblical values as the faith of these men is tested unto death. The men quote the Bible verse where Jesus warns His followers they will suffer as He has. The movie shows Jesus walking with them and giving them the strength to move forward. Visions of Jesus and angels leave some ISIS soldiers fearing for their lives. THE 21 tackles an intense subject and features some strong violence. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution for older teenagers and adults.
Content:
More Detail:
The 21 is a powerful animated short honoring the 21 Coptic Christians who ISIS killed in 2015 for standing for their faith rather than denouncing the name of Jesus when faced with torture and death. The short movie walks through how ISIS captured the men, the conditions they endured, their killings, and the legacy they have left in the ten years since their death.
In the 2010s, ISIS began a reign of terror in Northern Africa, cleansing the land of Christians. Their favorite target was Coptic Christians living in Northern Egypt. In the instance of THE 21, ISIS captured eight men while on their way home. Shortly afterwards, ISIS raided their settlement, capturing 13 other men. At first, they treated the men well, offering them good food and water before asking them to disown God and become Muslim. All 21 refused this demand, so ISIS began torturing them.
ISIS gave the men meaningless physical labor to begin, wearing down their strength. Anytime they fell, their captors beat them and told them to get back up. While they could stop the suffering at any time by renouncing their faith, each one continued to endure even as the conditions got worse. The terrorists doused them every hour, so they were unable to sleep and faced worse and worse torture, but their faith only grew as the ISIS soldiers became more brutal.
One night, the men began to pray in one voice, calling on God to deliver them. As the soldiers came to quiet the 21, some saw the face of Jesus and were terrified. Shortly afterwards, the ground of the prison began to shake like an earthquake, causing even more panic among the ISIS soldiers. They decided they had to dispose of the men quickly so they could be done with them before their God was able to take vengeance.
Thus began the men’s final days as the soldiers dressed them in orange jumpsuits and walked them to a beach to kill them. They performed this act three times, recording each one and telling the men they were about to kill them, but they would spare them if they converted to Islam.
On the third march, the ISIS soldiers brought the men to the waterfront. As they marched, they saw strange figures around them, an army of angels led by Jesus watching over the men. Eager to move on from the Christians, they positioned them in front of a camera, offering them one last opportunity to denounce their faith before being killed. The men were forced onto their stomachs and had their necks slit one by one, with the hope that some would begin to apostatize after seeing their neighbors killed. In the end, all 21 men stayed true to their faith, and ISIS killed them for their commitment to Jesus.
Since that day, the 21 men have been recognized as martyrs by the Coptic and Catholic churches. In 2017, the terrorists returned their remains to their families, and a church was built in their honor in their home province in Egypt.
THE 21 is an extremely well-made animated short combining the work of over 70 artists worldwide. The international aspect of the movie was purposefully done by its creators as the event made an impact worldwide and deserves to be honored by everyone. The art is extremely well done. It has a haunting beauty that will bring many viewers to tears. Despite the graphic nature of the torture and murder, the story is tastefully told. Furthermore, by interspersing the animation with real-life scenes from the event, the movie helps viewers continuously realize that these men were real, rather than only thinking of them as animated characters. A haunting image of the men’s actual faces as the ISIS soldiers take their photos is particularly moving.
THE 21 teaches extremely strong Christian and biblical values, showing how faith is even more important than life when walking with Jesus. The martyred men quote directly from the Bible, finding hope that Jesus warned His followers that they would face persecution as He did while they received support from Jesus. Furthermore, multiple Christian images are present throughout the movie, and the ISIS soldiers are fearful of the Lord despite believing their false Muslim god is the only true God. THE 21 features violence and intense scenes, but it tells an extremely valuable story about true Christian faith. MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution for older teenagers and adults.
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