Saved

I've had a few people ask me 'So what do you think of the movie Saved? So, I finally got around to watching it, and here's what I think:

Saved is basically a movie that exposes hypocritical 'christianity' and contrasts it with genuine humanity and does so in a fresh manner. Mandy Moore plays a Bible-thumper of the worst variety. While she appears to many at her school to be the perfect Christian girl, a closer examination shows that she has issues of pride, dis-honesty, and lacks compassion. Jena Malone begins the movie as Moore's clone, but then her world falls apart. Her boyfriend decides he's gay. She tries to convince him otherwise and ends up pregnant. It turns out that the best friends she has are the two 'non-christian' students at the private school.

What I liked about the movie- The acting (especially Jena Malone), the theme that it is more important to be genuine than to appear perfect, the theme that showing compassion is better than pointing fingers, and the ending (for the most part).

What I didn't like about the movie- I think the movie would have been better, and much more well received by the Christian community if there would have been a stronger voice of authentic Christianity. We only saw glimpses of true, compassionate, Christlikeness. We see a little of it in Patrick (a skating PK returning from a missions trip and falling for Jena Malone). We see it in a staff member at the school when she tries to keep Jena's pregnancy private for her. But that's about it. The directer really seemed to want to keep a stark contrast, so I guess I can understand not having more from this middle group.

Perhaps the worst part of this movie is that it will serve to expand the stereotype among non-Christians that Christianity is just a bunch of hypocrites and Bible thumpers. It leaves room for authenticity, but doesn't fill that gap. I guess that's our job.

But this review sounds way more negative than I intended. I really liked the movie.

Rating: 8.2
Status: Must Own