The Christian Path to Wedded Bliss

Photo by Evan Eames. While home for the holidays in Alabama, Kelly discusses courtship with her mother.

BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC | The need to find love, might one dare say, is universal. “A Courtship” delves deep into that need. Debut director Amy Kohn was researching arranged marriages for a reality show when she stumbled over Christian courtship — the idea that one’s father vets potential mates before you even meet and you save everything, including your first kiss, for your husband or wife.

The heart of the documentary is Kelly Boggus. A woman in her early thirties, Boggus found Jesus in college and has turned to her “spiritual parents,” Ron and Dawn Wright, to find an appropriate mate. Boggus is heartbreakingly real as she reveals how her parents’ divorce affected her and her tentative hopes when she meets Ross Leavitt. They begin the courtship process: Ross and Kelly “date” with their families by their sides.

Does their courtship end in wedded bliss? It is worth watching this beautifully shot documentary to find out. Kohn spent five months just speaking with the Wrights and Boggus before shooting, a year filming, and three more completing it. Kohn has said that she wanted to use romance as a lens to look at religion and perhaps start a conversation. “A Courtship” could do that.