If, after you see the new movie Persecuted, you crave more fantasy fare about the oppression of Christians, I recommend you go see Persecuted.

Both are apparently due this year, and we have the trailers for your viewing pleasure.

First, Persecuted:

According to a writeup by director Danny Lusko on Internet Movie Database, the scenario focuses on a highly-regarded evangelist (so you know it’s fiction) named John Luther who is

… the last obstacle in the way of sweeping religious reform in the States. When a U.S. Senator and Luther’s own supporters abduct and frame him in the murder of an innocent teenage girl, an unprecedented era of persecution is unleashed.

A press release explains the movie is about an out-of-control government

… mandating political correctness while covertly waging a war against religious organizations… [and about] the coming storm of persecution that will threaten the moral ethics and freedoms of America.

The flick opens May 9 on an estimated 600 U.S. screens. More here.

Next, it’s time for Persecuted.

Miranda Blue at Right Wing Watch says that although the film is set in the Soviet Union,

[it] is clearly meant to be an allegorical tale about the United States today.

On the movie’s Facebook page, writer-director Benjamin Bondar doesn’t argue the point. In fact, he says,

The unfortunate reality in the U.S. is that both socialist policies and atheist propaganda are actively trying to marginalize and demonize the practice of established religions such as Christianity. I feel that watching this movie with an open and attentive mind will help prove this point by providing a historical context with which to view current events happening in the U.S. right now.

Unlike Lusko’s production, which has some serious capital behind it, the Bondar film appears to be languishing due to a lack of money, but there’s no telling what perseverance and daily prayers may still accomplish. Bondar says he is committed to producing the full feature but will first submit a short version to the Cannes Film Festival.

A surer bet is to see Persecuted first — no, the other one — if only for the debut performance of Fox News Channel’s Gretchen Carlson. Carlson’s brand of baseless indignation should be a great fit for a movie built on a Christian paranoiac’s fever dream.



