To Save a Life
This is a personal review. The author did not receive any compensation for this review.
January 22, 2010, marks the opening weekend for a great new family film titled, “To Save a Life.” It is difficult to be completely objective as this is another in a new vein of great Christian film making, and as a Christian I am genuinely excited to see these films.
To Save a Life is not your average, everyday kind of Christian film. This movie, and the makers of it, delved deep into real humanity and explored real emotions and situations. From the beginning the characters are not fake stand-ins that misrepresent their real-world counterparts. These are real kids experiencing real events. There is exploration of the human condition expressed from the eyes of teenagers.
While in later scenes there are settings in Churches and youth groups, the main backdrop is the average everyday high school. There are jocks, preps, stoners, punks, goths, emos and anything not covered by this short list. To Save a Life honestly approaches the relationships between these groups and the realities of the pressures and emotions experienced by so many thousands of teenagers every single day.
To Save a Life is also not a preachy film. For Christians who want to hear deep theological sermons, they are better off attending their house of worship. This is a relational exploration and hits at the heart. People are messy and relationships are never as polished as they are often portrayed in Christian films.
There are a few curse words and some scenes of sensuality that are typically left out of Christian movies. Make no mistake however, as these scenes are an integral part of the story and are not simply gratuitous add-ins to bring in viewers. The film itself earned a PG rating for these factors, but they should not be seen as a potential danger to children. The actions of the participants in the film are extracted directly from the scripts of daily life.
In fact, To Save a Life examines just about every emotion on the spectrum. Viewers will be shocked, they will laugh, they will cry, they will be entertained, but most of all, everyone will learn something. That is the magic of To Save a Life. Anyone who walks into this movie will walk away with something new. It may not be the same for each viewer, but that is the stellar feat that this movie pulls off in the end.
We all come from different points of view and To Save a Life will no doubt touch a piece of everyone’s heart, mind and soul.
You got the movie! You really got it!