While Christians from all over the world have been flocking to the Cannes Film Festival to protest the premiere of “The Da Vinci Code,” a totally different kind of film about faith and Christianity is also debuting at Cannes this weekend. “Rising Son” is a biopic about legendary skateboarder Christian Hosoi’s hugely successful skateboarding career, which ended abruptly when he was sent to prison for drug trafficking. The film, narrated by renegade actor and cultural icon Dennis Hopper, tracks Hosoi’s childhood, rise to fame (you know, if skatebarders could ever really be considered celebrities…), and release from prison in 2004 as a changed man who had experienced a religious conversion to Christianity.

I can’t exactly imagine the French–or the Hollywood elite, for that matter–standing in line, much less doing a heelflip, kickturn, or a nosegrab, to catch this particular flick, but
maybe Hosoi’s story of grit, determination, and redemption translates into inspiration in any language. Still, even though I have not seen the film, I can’t help but feel a little disappointment that the only overtly Christian film at Cannes is yet another rags-to-riches testimony story that will probably only appeal to a nich market instead of creating spiritual discussion on a larger scale with the film community at large.