He Calls Me Daughter focuses on healing the “father wound” carried by so many women whose earthly fathers have caused them to have a negative view of our Father in heaven. It notes how the way our earthly father treats us influences the way we view ourselves, too—and the decisions we make in the aftermath. But He Calls Me Daughter provides hope by revealing the true goodness of God the Father through His Son Jesus Christ.
“Many Christians are functional orphans,” Dr. Michael Reeves says. “They believe that while God might be a kind Father for all these other Christians elsewhere, He’s not a Father for them.”
And often, He Calls Me Daughter puts forth, that’s a result of a “father wound,” which the documentary defines as “the pain left by an unmet need for love, safety, or affirmation from a father.”
When God describes Himself as Father, we can’t help but import our own understanding of fatherhood into that descriptor. And for those who’ve grown up with deeply flawed or absent dads, it becomes all-too-easy to apply what our earthly father was like onto what our heavenly Father must be like.
He Calls Me Daughter wants to help women see that God is a Father in the perfect sense of the word, rather than the broken sense. Audiences listen to the testimonies of a plethora of women, all of whom grew up in broken households with fathers who did not paint the term in a positive light—and how they found a true Father in God.
It may be that our earthly fathers will always fall short of what they are called to be. But God the Father never will.
Many women will find comfort in the testimonies they see here. He Calls Me Daughter points viewers to the hope these women have found in Christ (and much of the positive content in this documentary is expounded upon in our ‘Spiritual Elements’ section).
The documentary never dismisses the pain that fathers have caused to their daughters. Still, it does help remind women to realize how their dad’s failure may have shaped them—and how it might unfairly be influencing their view of the world. Additionally, it encourages the Christian virtue of forgiveness.
He Calls Me Daughter reminds men of the permanent impact their words and actions can have on their children, noting just how important and powerful good fathers are for healthy child development. It therefore motivates men to be better dads. And it should be noted that, while the documentary does not touch on father wounds held by sons (which director Rick Altizer dealt with explicitly in his previous movie Show Me the Father), much of what is said here is still applicable for young men who feel that same pain and weight.
He Calls Me Daughter seeks to shine a light onto how our earthly fathers influence the way we view our heavenly One. It reminds us that it how God acts as Father, and how that should influence our definition of that word more than how man acts as a father.
“When our human father corrupts our understanding of what ‘father’ means, of course we project a wrong understanding of fatherhood on God, and we need to see the revelation of God in Jesus” the documentary puts forth.
We meet many women who, as a result of their strained or broken relationships with their dads, take on negative views of men as a whole. These views caused them to turn away from Christianity for a long time, either because the men who hurt them professed Christ, or because they couldn’t get behind worshipping a God who became man.
Likewise, we hear instances of good fathers who have positively influenced the way their daughters view God:
“The most formative thing in my life was I watched my dad live out the gospel,” says Rachelle Starr, founder and president of Scarlet Hope.
After a man is saved from overdosing on pain pills, he tells his family that demons are attacking him, and he begs them to read the Bible to him.
A woman notes that her sin put Jesus upon the cross. But because her heavenly Father has forgiven her, she understands she must forgive her earthly father, too—echoing the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant in Matthew 18:21-35.
“The only way that I could forgive is by understanding and receiving the love and forgiveness of my Father God through His son Jesus Christ,” she says.
Many sections of Scripture are mentioned throughout the documentary. These include: Genesis 16:13, Psalm 90:17, Isaiah 6:8, Hosea 3, Luke 8:47-48; John 10:28, 15:15 and 17:23, Romans 8:1 and 8:29, 2 Corinthians 6:18 and 1 John 1:3.
Additionally, we hear the hymn, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” A woman is baptized. Someone explains that, some days, she felt like “she is god,” and some days, she didn’t care if she were to be struck by a car.
A couple of women mention working at strip clubs—and we’re introduced to Scarlet Hope, an organization seeking to bring the gospel to those exploited and trafficked women in the sex industry. Another foundation, Slave 2 Nothing, made to fight human trafficking and addiction, is mentioned, too.
We’re told how trauma and fatherlessness often pushes women into the sex industry. A woman states the dislike she had for men, especially when she’d see them enter her strip club while taking off their wedding rings.
A few different women reference how they sought control over or connection with men through sexual relationships. We hear stories of fathers and mothers engaged in infidelity.
Chonda Pierce, a comedian, jokes about male online dating profiles, often depicting them as “shirtless men [with] beer gut hanging out.” “If a man has to wear a bra bigger than me, I ain’t going out with him,” she jokes. She also tells a story of her father’s frequent infidelity: She stumbled upon him during a couple of affairs and was beaten for it.
A husband and wife share a kiss.
Women share their stories of domestic abuse at the hands of their fathers, including an instance in which a dad broke his 5-year-old daughter’s nose.
“Jesus is a feeling that lives at church, because as soon as we step out of those doors, we are getting hit in the parking lot,” someone recounts.
Some women say they attempted suicide or self-harm as a result of depression.
None.
We are told many stories of fathers and mothers who had an addiction to alcohol or drugs. Some of the women mention turning to the same substances.
None.
Few men have shown the impact a father can have on his children more than Rick Altizer.
The director’s two documentaries—2021’s Show Me the Father and this year’s He Calls Me Daughter—shows just how deeply fatherly relationships shape their children. And in He Calls Me Daughter specifically, Altizer intently focuses on how poor fatherly stewardship hurts girls and can put them on a destructive path later in life. He’s quick to note at the start of the documentary of how bad dads can negatively influence a child’s view of our heavenly Father.
Of course, Altizer doesn’t stop there, ultimately showing the testimonies of many women who came to understand that their imperfect earthly fathers don’t represent the perfect Holy Father. Indeed, the documentary puts forth that it is God the Father who sets the definition of what a father is—not the earthly father, whose charge is instead to match that definition to the best of his ability.
And the charge for men watching the documentary is obvious: if our poor fatherly stewardship may turn our daughters (and sons) away from God, so too may our proper fatherly care show the goodness of God the Father through us.
Parents fail. Fathers fail—and some, unfortunately, never repent of their mistakes, leaving lasting aches their children carry for a lifetime. But He Calls Me Daughter may provide many women the hope and healing they need to see father as its proper, comforting term over a negative one.
He Calls Me Daughter is playing March 17 and 18 in select theaters.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He’s also an avid cook. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
