The famous Flannery O’Connor short story A Good Man is Hard to Find has inspired much debate and insightful thinking on Christianity, charity and deceiving appearances. When the short story was adapted into a short film called Black Hearts Bleed Red, several things were altered – not just thematically, but literally.

A Good Man is Hard to Find resolves around a small family consisting of a mother, father, two children and a grandmother. The grandmother – the story’s central character – accompanies her family on a vacation to Florida, all the while seeking a vacation in Tennessee instead. Using alluring conversation, she leads the family off course in to Georgia, where she unintentionally causes a car accident. Three criminals soon intercept the family after the crash. One of these is a known murderer called The Misfit. The Misfit and his lackeys end up killing the family while The Misfit argues with the grandmother about Christianity. The grandmother finally exclaims that the Misfit is her own son, tries to touch him, and is shot. The Misfit later comments on how the grandmother would have been a good woman, if she had lived with a gun to her head her entire life. The main impact of the story is to show the revelation of the grandmother accepting The Misfit as an equal son of God.

There were many differences in O’Connor’s original text and the film adaptation Black Hearts Bleed Red. Directed by Jeri Cain Rossi, some of the most obvious changes include significant personality changes. The grandmother, for example, is effectively portrayed as a scandalous, sexual, immoral icon, as opposed to her more traditional representation in the book. This change transforms her from an outwardly (though not inwardly) Christian to an obviously immoral non-Christian. The wife, who is very outspoken about her Christian values and the grandmother’s immoral behavior, takes up the role of the overly Christian woman. At one point, she even waves a fan with the vision of Jesus printed on it. It is the wife then, not the grandmother, who is the most vocal about Christianity and morals, and there is no great revelation as a result.

When The Misfit arrives and begins killing the family, the grandmother shows absolutely none of the fear she displayed in the book. In fact, she coyly flirts, converses and even kisses The Misfit himself. Her entire character is altered to a completely sinful whore. In effect, the entire meaning behind the book – which revolved around the grandmother’s revelation that was more important to believe Christian values than to act them – was entirely undercut. The adaptation receives little praise due to these changes, especially since they so severely alter the original intention and meaning behind O’Connor’s original work.