At the Movies: To Save a Life

Overall: 8.7

You know, I would not have heard about this film at all were it not for a review that was posted at Big Hollywood - and that's a real shame, because I think this is a movie that needs to be screened and discussed by youth groups of all Christian denominations. Though somewhat flawed, To Save a Life is, overall, a worthwhile and deeply affecting film - one of the best - and most honest - explicitly Christian films I've seen in years.

Plot Synopsis:

A star athlete who has just won a basketball scholarship, Jake Taylor enjoys a place at the top of the high school hierarchy. But he starts to see his entire life in a different light when an old childhood friend, Roger Dawson - a friend he abandoned for the world of pretty cheerleaders and beer pong - brings a gun to school and publicly commits suicide. At Roger's funeral, Jake remembers the day Roger got hit by a car while pushing him out of the way - and the night their friendship ended - and he is immediately struck by a sense of guilt.

Jake's change begins in earnest at a typical drunken post-game party when a fellow basketball player, Doug Moore, decides to play a prank on one of the school nerds. When the nerd in question, Jonny Garcia, arrives in full costume believing he's going to a round of Wizard Quest, Jake is the only one who doesn't laugh. Jake's cheerleader girlfriend, Amy Briggs, is puzzled by Jake's sudden seriousness and decides to cheer him up by pulling him into a bedroom to have sex.

Shortly after they have done the deed, the police arrive to break up the party, and Amy steals Jake's truck in a panic. Plastered and alone, Jake tries in vain to call all of his friends to snag a ride home; ultimately, he is forced to call Chris Vaughn, the youth pastor at a local non-denominational church and the man who presided at Roger's funeral. On the way home, Chris comes to a stop before Roger's house and shares with Jake his own feelings of responsibility. Apparently, some days before Roger committed suicide, he appeared at Chris' youth group and was inadvertently given the brush-off. Clearly intending to reach out to Jake, Chris urges him to come to his youth group to check it out.

Jake does in fact come to the church the following morning, where he hears Chris preaching to the teens about how lives like Roger Dawson's should not be so cruelly devalued. Jake doesn't stick around to socialize with the kids in the group, but Chris manages to catch him on his way out and hands him a Bible and a devotional CD. Jake is uncertain he wants to become "some Christian," but he decides to keep an open mind; he listens to Chris' CD and starts to seriously consider the Gospel message. Ultimately, he decides to be baptized.

Neither Amy nor Doug respond positively to Jake's new interest. For her part, Amy goes to a youth group meeting with Jake, but she finds she can't tolerate it for long and storms out, telling Jake that she doesn't want to be judged. Meanwhile, Jake discovers, to his disappointment, that many in the youth group - including Pastor Rivers' son - do not take Christianity seriously, and in a later meeting, he stands up and challenges their hypocrisy. "What's the point if you won't let it change you?"

Some of the teens decide then to cross social caste lines and sit together during lunch at school. Jake deliberately asks outcast Jonny Garcia to join the group, and they become friends. Jake also reaches out to Roger's mother for the first time, and Mrs. Dawson gives him some pictures to take home, pictures which Jake posts to Roger's MySpace page along with suicide support information.

But Jake discovers quickly that baptism is not a ticket to easy living when several personal crises pile upon him at once. Number one, his distant, career-minded father is caught with another woman, thereby revealing the cracks in Jake's parents' marriage. Number two, Amy informs Jake that she is pregnant and that she intends to have an abortion. Angry that all of this should be happening now, Jake snaps at poor Jonny, then goes to seek Chris's advice. "I think I'm in trouble." Chris counsels Jake to pray, but Jake doesn't want to hear it. He wonders openly why God won't step in, and Chris remarks wisely that God is not a magic genie or a vending machine here to grant our every wish.

That night, Jake does finally get on his knees to pray, asking God to give him the strength to do the right thing. The following morning, he rushes to meet Amy outside the women's health center and announces that he will not be accepting his basketball scholarship - that he intends to stay in town to support Amy. Amy decides to keep the baby, and Chris arranges an open adoption.

In the meantime, Jake also gets a chance to mend his relationship with Jonny when the vindictive Danny Rivers steals Jonny's cell phone, calls the school, and delivers a bomb threat. When Jonny is arrested, Jake calls Jonny's cell, discovers that Danny has it, and runs out out of the school quad to stop the police car and save Jonny from the humiliation.

Months later, before Jake leaves for college a semester late, Jonny hands him a letter; in it, Jonny reveals that, just like Roger, he often considered suicide, but Jake's attention and kindness succeeded in pulling him from the brink.

Writing: 8.5

There is much in this script that is borderline brilliant. For one thing, its portrayal of the social stratification of a high school - and what such stratification sometimes does to the hearts and souls of high school students - is extremely arresting. For example, the first time Jake takes a look at Roger's MySpace page, he finds what amounts to a digital suicide note. In it, Roger unloads his frustration and despair at being unheard and unwanted in words that, at least for me, brought up a lot of unresolved feelings from my own adolescence. In all honesty, I spent the entire scene with my heart in my throat crying my eyes out like an idiot.

For another thing, the writer has clearly thought long and hard on why people reject Christianity these days, as his treatment of this subject is also near pitch-perfect. As noted in the synopsis above, Jake's girlfriend Amy initially rejects Jake's conversion because of the fear of being judged, and I think that basically nails it for many of Christianity's enemies. Those who pour out the most vitriol when it comes to the Body of Christ are often those who are so wrapped up in their sin that said sin has become a sort of security blanket - even a perverse badge of honor. Why do some people go absolutely ballistic at the sight of, say, Michelle Duggar, who strikes me as one of the most peaceful women on the planet? Because by merely existing, Mrs. Duggar puts the lie to many people's pretensions of happiness - and as soon as that awareness starts to take shape, awareness of God's judgment follows. On the other hand, the writer also acknowledges that many people reject Christianity because of the behavior of some Christians. At church one day, I learned that Gandhi once said that he might've become Christian if he had actually met a Christian, and that struck me as incredibly sad. Many honest seekers experience what Jake experiences here: they want to be told - they want to be shown - why the Gospel message is so important, but end up walking away disappointed by the lackadaisical attitudes of supposed believers. If we Christians want to draw people in, we do have let our religion change us; we can't relegate it to our Sunday mornings and forget about it the rest of the week.

This script has one weakness, though: in his enthusiasm to tackle adolescent Christianity in an honest manner, Britts does pack in a few too many capital-I Issues. Pre-marital sex, abortion, divorce, self-mutilation, and bullying all get surface treatments here, which is not wholly misguided - these are real issues our kids face, after all. I suspect, however, that if Britts had whittled down this list a little bit, the product would've been much tighter.

Acting: 7.5

This cast of relative unknowns does a pretty good job with the material Britts provides. Unfortunately, Randy Wayne is not an especially compelling leading man; at times, Wayne's performance comes off a little too flat - a little too monotone - to suit my personal preference. But my dissatisfaction with Wayne is offset by my overwhelming affection for both Joshua Weigel's portrayal of Chris and Kim Hidalgo's turn as the freckle-faced, sweetly Christian Andrea. I hope to see both actors in future films.

Message: 10.0

Anyone who watches this film should come away with the following three desperately needed messages:

We can't be "fakers." As I wrote above, there are many churchgoers out there who are simply going through the motions - people who have pushed their faith into the background and behave as if God does not have the right to demand our devotion and obedience. Something Jake's father says in one scene encapsulates this approach to faith precisely: "There's nothing wrong with a little religion, but are you sure you have time?" This is precisely the wrong attitude. Religion is not a hobby like stamp collecting or sailing - it is a way of life that should influence everything we do - every decision we make - at work and at play. Jake allows his new-found faith to change how he treats others, and what he finds is joy.

God is not a vending machine. Goodness, I almost squealed when I heard Chris say this, as it goes right to the heart of the entitlement mentality that is running rampant through the modern world. God is not supposed to wait on us hand and foot, shielding us from all distress and protecting us from our own mistakes. God has decided, in His love, to allow us to be free, which means that when God sends us a boat in a flood (as in the famous joke), we're supposed to use it to help ourselves.

However, God has not entirely left us to our own devices. We can - in fact, we must - call upon Him for help dealing with those things - like our sinful nature - that seem impossible to conquer. As Jake realizes here, there are some things we are simply not meant to do by ourselves.