Film Review: Mama Heidi

My wife and I watched a short movie (52 minutes) about Heidi Baker. Heidi runs orphanages in Mozambique and has taken on a Herculean task. Like so many places ravaged by war and natural disaster there is no lack of need and it can seem so overwhelming. In a nation where you can drive around and pick up an unlimited number of orphans and abandoned children every night, where do you draw the line? Do you draw the line? It reminded me a lot of Haiti, a land where the need is so great that it demands an utter dependence on God.

The movie was primarily a series of short interviews with Heidi and a couple with her husband and her daughter. The focus was clearly on Heidi (hence the name of the movie) or more specifically on the kids. Some of the things she said made me uncomfortable. Not because they raise uncomfortable questions about poverty in the developing world and affluence in the West, although it does do that. Some of the things that she talks about seem queer to my Western ears. When she speaks of a miraculous healing that convinces a doctor to come work in the clinic and turn to God, alarm bells go off. We are so on alert for any sense of heresy or squirrelly teaching that I am afraid we discount miraculous healings. That is understandable when faced with charlatans like Benny Hinn. Of course there is a huge difference between a man who flies private jets all over the world and lives in luxury as a result of his “healing” ministry and reports of miracles happening that turn people to God in the midst of poverty. Not sure what I think of everything she said but I know this for certain. This sister has spent decades serving Christ by caring for the least of these in Mozambique, sacrificing dreams, aspirations and comforts again and again for the sake of children. Isn’t that by definition good theology? I am certain that there are things going on, unexplainable things, in the hard places of the world that we just don’t see in the staid religious world of the West. Why would Satan bother with spiritual warfare somewhere when he has largely gotten his wish as people trade following Christ for comfortable religion?

You can watch Mama Heidi online at Netflix on streaming video. It is less than an hour and very thought provoking. I do not, and given the limited information I have cannot, endorse everything she says without reservation but I love her heart for Jesus that exhibits itself in a heart for children.