I Heard the Bells Parent Guide

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Stephen Atherholt) is America’s most popular poet – but he has sworn never to write again. One bereavement after another has left him emotionally spent and unable to summon up the energy or imagination to put words to paper. The final straw is when his eldest son, Charlie (Jonathan Blair), joins the Union Army without his father’s consent. As Charlie rides off to war, he shouts at his father that he will no longer “put hope in a God who is sleeping or a God who is dead.”

With his own faith frozen, Longfellow pulls strings to keep his son away from the front lines of the Civil War and then waits in dread for the feared knock at the door. As the poet descends into a dark night of the soul, it seems unlikely that inspirational words will ever flow from his pen again. How then, does this wounded and grieving man become the author of the beloved Christmas anthem, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”?

I will admit my biases up front: I love this Christmas carol. It’s always been one of my favorites and I was excited to see a film about the events that inspired it. Perhaps my expectations were too high. This isn’t a terrible film, but it isn’t as good as it should be. Longfellow’s life is a fascinating story, with lots of drama and deep emotional pain. It’s clear from his famous lyrics that he had rebuilt faith from a place of great anguish. This emotional and spiritual growth is a remarkable process, which the movie manages to capture to some small extent. Frankly, it takes a great filmmaker to depict the transformation of a man’s soul and I think that’s beyond the ability of director Joshua Enck. I don’t blame him for trying and failing. As another 19^th century poet said, “A man’s reach must exceed his grasp or what’s a heaven for?”

What goes wrong with this movie? Its biggest weakness comes in the first act of the film, which feels stage-y. It too often seems that the actors are reciting lines, not having authentic conversations. At the worst moments, I felt like I was watching community theater (good community theater, but still…) Most distracting of all is Longfellow’s wig. It’s almost impossible to describe how bad his wig is: I don’t know what it’s made from but it never looks like real hair. In some scenes it looks like he’s dressing up as Karl Marx, which I am 100% sure is not the look the wardrobe department was trying to achieve. The rest of the movie looks good, I just wish the production staff had spent a bit more money on better wigs for their lead actor.

On the flip side, this movie has a lot to recommend it to family audiences (and particularly to Christian viewers). Negative content is minimal with just enough violence to provide historical accuracy and to keep the narrative moving. The film provides a touching depiction of a strong, loving family and honestly portrays the challenges of maintaining faith in a world of suffering and anguish. It’s a triumphant shout from the battle raging in a man’s soul; a powerful witness of how his renewed faith in God brings light into the darkness of grief and isolation. This message never grows old and as Christmas 2022 approaches in a world gripped by war, famine, and plague, a reminder that “The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, With peace on earth, good will to men” is as timely as it was in 1863.