The film’s centerpiece sequence occurs early on, as Elizabeth sits weeping in her closet while pleading, “God, help him love me again.” This moment is heartbreaking for all the wrong reasons. There, she will summon God to help fight her battles, thus transforming the space into the titular “war room.” Her role as a submissive woman is to treat the man in her life with grace, which will eventually shame him into becoming a good person. Instead, she urges the long-suffering wife to go back home, empty out a closet and plaster the walls with Bible verses. When Elizabeth tries opening up about the unabashed cruelty she endures on a daily basis from her loathsome husband, Tony (T.C. Shirer) must be taught in extended conversations with her client-turned-friend, Miss Clara ( Karen Abercrombie).
This is the lesson that real estate agent Elizabeth ( Priscilla C. Grappling with the gray areas in life is seen as a sign of weakness, while acting in one’s own best interest is nothing more than a sinful exercise in selfish pride. The film wants to evangelize by preaching an ideology that requires its followers to view the world in black-and-white terms. It has one single goal, which according to the Kendricks, is the only goal worth having. Spirituality can be a beautiful thing to explore in cinema, but “War Room” has no interest in engaging its audience on a personal level.
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