Last Thursday I was able to see a prescreening of an upcoming movie called To Save A Life. Here is my honest critique of the film...I believe the movie has a fantastic message for a limited audience. The movie gives a very honest, abrasive and brutal look at the realities of teen suicide, teen drug use, teen alcohol use, teen "cutting" and teen sexuality. While spending time in all of these teen problems there are three cuss words thrown in for good measure (the "A" word once and the "H" word twice).
The following text is from the movie's website:
Jake Taylor has it all: friends, fame, a basketball scholarship and the hottest girl in school. What could be better?
Enter Roger Dawson. Roger has nothing. No friends. No hope. Nothing but putdowns and getting pushed aside. Things couldn't get worse...could they?
Jake and Roger were best friends when they were kids. But the politics of high school quickly pulled them apart. Now Roger doesn't fit in Jake's—or anyone's circle—and he's had enough. He walks onto campus with a gun in his pocket and pain in his heart and makes a tragic move.
Jake's last-ditch effort can't stop Roger, and the sudden tragedy rocks Jake's world. Something breaks loose inside and sends him questioning everything. Most of all, he can't shake the question Could I have saved Roger? In a quest for answers, Jake finds himself looking for the next Roger and reaching out to the outcasts and lonely. But he quickly finds that crossing class castes threatens all his world is built on. And it could cost him his own friends, his girl, his dreams and even his reputation. Is it worth the price to find the answer to his ultimate question: What do I want my life to be about?
The movie falls short I believe at doing what it wants to do. It does have a great message. We see the main character become a Christ follower and when he does his world gets worse, not better. Which I believe is very true-to-life. Just because you follow Christ it doesn't mean you won't ever experience hardship again.
But the in-your-face approach to the issues teens face may be closer to glorifying it than warning against it. Just from a technical stand-point, the movie was slow in spots. I found myself looking at my watch more than once. Also, it was way too long.
All in all I believe this movie gets a "B-". It shouldn't be seen by anyone under the age of 15.
But there is ANOTHER movie that I am absolutely stoked about seeing...the announcement of this project just happened yesterday (November 15th). The creators of Fireproof the movie announced their next new film Courageous. This is going to be a film about fatherhood! I cannot wait! These guys know how to do movies! This is definitely a movie you are going to want to see.
UPDATE:
The Christian Post published an ARTICLE about the Courageous Movie. It says that filming is set to begin next year with a tentative release date for early 2011. Bummer we will have to wait that long!
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