June (Web-only) 2000

ARTICLE TOOLS

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The movies are excellent at exploring moral labyrinths; most fans could explain not only the dilemmas facing cops, lawyers, and doctors in their work, but debate when the Prime Directive can be violated or whether Superman's first duty is to Lois Lane or to Metropolis. Only rarely, however, have the movies explored the tough situations of my own life, as a Christian striving to live his faith openly in this world.The Big Kahuna is one of those rarities. It tells of a young Christian at his first sales convention, teamed with two more experienced (read: cynical and weary) salesmen who aim to land a huge account with the title character. The rookie, though, is more interested in forging relationships with those he meets than in shaking loose their pocket change. In doing so, he reveals an honest faith that transcends Sundays. This alone would be noteworthy for Christian audiences, yet The Big Kahuna mines even deeper, probing the moral pitfalls that a person of faith must face.

Larry Mann (Kevin Spacey) is a born salesman, blunt and confrontational. He's selling industrial lubricants at the moment, but the product is irrelevant to the game. Larry lives for the hustle, the strike; as he explains it to team newcomer Bob Walker (Peter Facinelli), the people at these sales conventions are nothing more than"functions" of their companies, important for their nametags only. Bob resists this mentality, both as a Christian and as a sales neophyte, and instead converses with unimportant people while tending bar. Afterward, he shares with his uninterested colleagues how he consoled a man whose dog had just died, listening to the man's life traced backward through the series of dogs he'd owned.While Bob's reluctance ...