 |
|---|
Film Review
Saved!
Distributor: Becker, 2004
Starring: Jena Malone, Chad Faust, Mandy Moore, Macauley Culkin
Review by Jenni van Wageningen
Mary is in her final year at a Christian high school. When her boyfriend
Dean confesses that he is probably gay, she is so shocked and confused
that she believes God is telling her to sleep with Dean to cure him of
his homosexual inclinations.
As a result of following this ‘guidance’ she falls pregnant. Dean, in the meantime, is packed off by his parents to a centre which will tackle his condition.
The other main character is Hilary Faye, a self-styled ‘super-Christian’ who embodies all the worst features of a shallow Christianity. She is not only smug and judgmental with a holier-than-thou attitude, she also uses her faith to manipulate and control others.
Her wheelchair-bound brother Roland on the other hand is a breath of fresh air. He has a mind of his own and strikes up a friendship with Tia, the only Jewish and unbelieving student and at the school and a similar independent thinker.
All other students at the school have confused authentic Christianity with legalism and an intolerant and condescending approach to those who do not conform.
This summary of the main characters and the first part of the movie will no doubt be enough for many Christians to react negatively – and this was also my initial response. But I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the film does not attack or ridicule Christianity as such. It does, however, parody and satirize the idiosyncrasies of a particular American evangelical sub-culture, one that has parallels in Australia. For this reason it may strike rather close to the bone, perhaps because many Christians find it difficult to laugh at their own human and religious blind spots.
Having said this, however, the movie does have some very real weaknesses.
All the adults behave quite immaturely. Not one is perceptive and wise enough to guide and advise the teenagers as they wrestle with their problems... Mary’s mother is too preoccupied and infatuated with Pastor Skip to be any use to her daughter in her predicament. As school principal Pastor Skip is the worst role model of all.
Secondly, it is the superficial and hypocritical Christians who fuel all the relationship problems, particularly the unbearable Hilary Faye. On the other hand, all the non-Christians are the nice guys, and demonstrate the love and compassion necessary to sort things out and find solutions. This over-the-top lack of balance does spoil the movie’s credibility.
Another disappointing feature is the ending. The general fuzzy feeling with the cosy wrap-up in the maternity ward is that we should be tolerant of each other’s differences, let people do their own thing and generally ‘go with the flow’. After all, if God let it happen, then it must be OK!
What the Bible may have to say on sexuality and other issues is ignored. (Interestingly, emotion-based reactions are just what the movie ridicules, so there is something of a contradiction here). Of course God love us in spite of our failings, and we are of course encouraged to reflect that love in our dealings with others. However, the movie overlooks the difference between what is sinful and what is God-pleasing behaviour.
Most of all, the movie does not allow for the possibility that the Bible really does have life-changing authority and advice. We are presented with a form of Christianity based on rules and regulations without a personal relationship with the living Christ. It is no accident that the only evidence of Jesus in the movie is in the form of a huge cardboard cut-out at the entrance to the school. Even this has been toppled by the end of the movie, thanks to Hilary Faye.
This is not a movie I would recommend to teenagers
generally. With adult guidance and discussion it provides a rich
opportunity for discussing what it means to be a Christian. So I do hope
Christians will not reject it out of hand.
Books
Music
Movies
Return to top of page
All material on this site © 2004 Trowel & Sword