There’s a scene that occurs about a half hour into War Room, a low-budget drama that replaced Straight Outta Compton as the number-one movie in America a couple weeks ago and currently sits third on the box-office chart. An old woman—presented as a wise, voice-of-reason type—is meeting with the real estate agent who’s going to help her sell her home. To find out whether she wants to work with this agent, the old woman asks her about her religious life. How often does she go to church? the old woman asks. Occasionally, the agent answers. Does your pastor only preach occasionally? the old woman retorts. The agent explains that she’s more spiritual than religious and feels the need to pray only now and then—her relationship with God is “not too hot, not too cold.” To teach her a lesson, the old woman serves the agent a cup of lukewarm coffee, which the younger woman promptly rejects. People drink coffee hot or cold, the old woman explains, but never in between. Not even the Lord likes coffee that way—and coffee, when you think about it, is a lot like religious faith.
Liz enters into a friendship with the old woman, Miss Clara, in hopes of finding some solace in life. Clara listens to her problems and advises her that the only solution lies in prayer—Liz shouldn’t confront her husband over his emotionally abusive behavior, but petition God to make him change his ways. “It’s your job to stand by him and pray for him,” says Clara with bible-thumping force. “You got to pray for him to let him do what only he can do, then stand out of the way and let him do it!” Liz decides to take Clara’s advice and, acting on another of the old woman’s suggestions, converts her bedroom closet into a “war room,” where she can pray with newfound fervor. The plan works: the husband, Tony, begins to take greater interest in his wife and daughter, and he cuts ties with the woman he’d been dating on his business trips to Atlanta.
