The Masked Saint

“The Masked Saint” is a movie about a wrestler named Chris Samuels (Brett Granstaff—“Set Up,” “Vice”), who retires from his professional wrestling career to become a pastor. He begins his ministry by pastoring a church that is losing members and struggling financially. But with his sense of insecurity about his ability to preach effectively and lead the church, the task of turning the church around is daunting. To gain money to help the church, Chris eventually returns to wrestling, while maintaining his role as a pastor.

There is a sense of dualism in the character and life of Chris, which presents advantages, but can also lead to problems. He retains the confrontational spirit of a fighter from his wrestling career, which motivates him to confront injustice and hypocrisy, but can also lead to rash actions. He seeks to preach a message of forgiveness and create a church environment that welcomes people from all walks of life, but sometimes faces temptation with double standards for acceptance. And as he succeeds in both his church and his wrestling career, he faces a tendency to become prideful, becomes burdened with stress, and struggles with the fact he is engaged in a side career of which some in his congregation may disapprove.

A variety of other characters, with a range of personalities, are involved in the story, and Chris’s interactions with them make this movie strong in character development. The plot is well-paced, and there is a good balance of humor and serious material. The movie does a good job integrating Christian themes into the story, as opposed to imposing them onto the story.

The film invites discussions about the relationship between one’s Christian life, personality, and secular involvements. In the Bible, 1st Corinthians 10:31 states that “whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.” The movie creates an opportunity to reflect on what this means.

“The Masked Saint” is one of the more multifaceted faith-based movies that I have seen. I recommend watching it, because there are a variety of discussion points that viewers could identify in this movie, depending on their own experiences.

Violence: Several long wrestling match scenes, one of which results in a broken leg. In another match, some mild blood is shown. Also, one of the characters is a vigilante who physically fights down criminals several times to thwart attacks. There are a few scenes of physical aggression between characters unrelated to crime or wrestling matches.

Sexual Content: There is a prostitute and a man who works as a pimp, but there are no scenes of sexuality or explicit dialog. Only a few lines of the script pertain to these matters.

Language: “Hell” is used twice as an expletive, and there is one use of “cr*p” and “t*rd.”

Violence: Moderate / Profanity: Mild / Sex/Nudity: Mild

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.