The Gospel in 'The Guilty'

Dear reader, 

I recently watched a heavy film that I wanted to share with you. 

The trailer for ‘The Guilty’ caught my eye, as the whole story was told from the point of view of a 911 operator, and every aspect of the story’s progression was through dialogue on the phone. 

It caught my attention. 

But what got me hooked was when it opened with John 8:32 on a black screen. 

I’m always skeptical when films use scripture, 9 times out of 10 it’s taken out of context. 

This time they nailed it. 

The story follows Joe Baylor, a demoted police officer who is assigned to the call desk to answer 911 calls. 

Throughout the movie, you see that Joe is struggling internally. Shortness of breath, bursts of anger, and seems to be emotionally unstable. 

He answers some calls here and there to introduce us to Joe, but it is truly disheartening to watch him interact with all these people who need help. 

He’s calloused and very unlikeable. But he soon receives a call from a woman who is abducted by her ex-husband, his guard drops and he does everything he can to save her from across the phone.

Joe goes through call after call trying to save this woman. 

He talks to her young daughter to comfort her. 

He talks to the somewhat incoherent ex-husband.

He talks with many different police officers. 

As the story progresses he realizes that the woman is not abducted, and he has been helping the wrong person the whole time. 

She was mentally ill, she had hurt one of her children, and her husband was taking her to the hospital. 

We see Joe’s heartbreak throughout the film. As he realizes he was wrong to help her, and then on the phone he admits that he was wrong as well. 

Throughout the film, there are many moments where people bring up that he has a court date the following day, and everyone is wishing him luck. 

We come to find out that while on duty he had shot and killed someone, he lost control of his thoughts and he did the unthinkable. Once he confesses that to the woman on the phone, you can see this tremendous amount of relief come over him. 

He’d been holding back the truth for so long and it wasn’t until it was brought to light that he could finally breathe right. 

The film ends with him calling his partner who was to be his witness in the court case and telling him,

”Just tell the truth. Promise me you’ll tell the truth.” 

Having that breakdown at the end made the whole story worth it. The woman is admitted into the hospital, the child is saved in the end, and Joe is convicted for the crime he committed. 

One of Joe’s fellow cops told him near the end that “Broken people save broken people.” 

I believe this is so untrue. Joe didn’t save anyone, he was limited to the words he could say through a phone, and that meant that he did nothing but speak. 

He said many different things, some good, most bad, Joe had no reason to take any of the glory here. 

In ‘The Guilty’ we see a very broken man trying to help other broken people, and in the end, most things turn out horribly. Mankind is not designed to be saviors to one another. 

We can’t look to those in authority over us to fill the gap that only Jesus can. Yes still respect and honor them, but don’t hold them in such high esteem as if they can be our savior. 

That’s what Joe did, he wanted to be Jesus to these people, but in the end, he was the farthest he could have been. 

I highly recommend watching this film, I don’t condone the sin that it discusses, but it does point us back to our need for a savior, and I’m all for that. 

Sincerely, 

Your Fellow Broken Person

-Mitchell