The Rich Mullins movie “Ragamuffin” looks like it is somewhat finished. The facebook page for the movie says the movie is in the can and they are currently shopping for a distribution deal. From the trailer itself, I’m pretty hopeful this could be good. The actor who plays him is a little too good looking & doesn’t seem to want to imitate the accent (Rich had this nondescript accent, part hick, part midwestern amish?). Still the trailer gets me going a bit. Rich was, and is, my hero.
There are a lot of different ways to tell the story of Rich Mullins’s life, most of them will be pretty far off. He kept so much of his life private. What he was to most of the CCM machine and to most of his fans was not what he was to anyone who knew him or got to be around him away from that sphere. The best example of this was how he would always tick people off in concert just by talking about life and his experience of God. I saw him play a couple dozen times & people would just outright argue with him in the middle of a show. They’d yell out some question or challenge him, “Don’t you have a pastor?” he’d say. “Go ask your pastor about this. I’m just a musician.” But he always had the mic (and the superior intellect), and couldn’t resist so he’d launch into a perfectly disdainful tirade on whatever subject was in question… it was always amusing if not profound.
Anyway, I miss Rich constantly. I think that his Ghost lives behind much of what is happening today in music like Mumford & Sons & the arena folk stuff. He was a deep well, and his personal biography could have a pretty significant impact on people. I hope this movie sees its way to your screen at some point (and I hope it’s good!).
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