Hamnet Christian Review
Hamnet is gutting cinema. To my mind, however, the result is a sacramental film — one that breathes in the pauses between words (Psalm 34:18 comes to mind: “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”) There is something soul-nourishing about a movie that refuses to hurry on past grief, allowing us to linger with the mother’s sadness in a way that feels simultaneously deeply human and transcendent.
The actress’s sensitive, realistic depiction of Agnes’s pain reminds me of the women of the Bible who carried their sorrow with dignity — Hannah, mourning for a child not yet conceived, and Mary, for a Son on His way to die. Agnes would never read the Bible, though — she shuns the written word — still, her grieving voice is a clarion call from those ancient wails of anguish and regret. It is the kind of grief that squeezes a tight “Lord, have mercy,” out of the throat.
The film made me think of a family’s unspoken struggle to remain resilient just as disaster strikes them in the gut. The father, emotionally withdrawn, the mother quietly covering up what’s left, and unspoken blame. In the midst of this messy world, the Bible tells us, “Love covers all things.”.
There is no outward faith in the movie, but there is an implied need, a quiet reaching for meaning. Though it can’t begin to touch the agony of what Job, the suffering patriarch, experienced, when he declared, “Though He slay me, yet I will trust Him” (Job 13:15), even this silence cannot be far removed from his suffering. Agnes takes on the burden of Job’s distress, without his language.
The film is clear-sighted and unsentimental. The film’s depiction of death is not a spectacle, but its emotional punch is hard-hitting. On a spiritual level, the story is simple. While it ignores the Christian hope that death is not the last word and that Christ is risen, it also refuses to lift its eyes toward that promise. That void is felt unutterably.
Hamnet gives us good reason to do so. It invites us to consider loss and identity in a deeper way. Believers use it to remind themselves of Christ’s promise, “I will not leave you comfortless” (John 14:18).
| Movie/Series Name | Morality | Faith & Spirituality | Family-Friendliness | Positive Role Models | Biblical Accuracy | Overall Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hamnet (2025) | Good ✅ | Weak ❌ | Moderate ⚠ | Some ⚠ | Low ❌ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
