To Save a Life

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_movies_blog/2010/01/movie-review-to-save-a-life.html
http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2010/02/01/growing_up_growing_a_conscience_in_to_save_a_life/
To Save a Life is a new Christian movie that came out in the beginning of the year. It is the story of a Teenage boy who is sorting out a number of issues in his life. Jake, the main character, was best friends with Roger, all through their growing up years. The movie starts out showing the funeral service for Roger, who had committed suicide. The movie goes back in time to show what led up to Roger’s death. Then it goes back to the present and shows how Jake and his friends learn to deal with Roger’s death. Along the way, Jake has to deal with many struggles of his own. Jake’s party lifestyle gets him into trouble when his girlfriend gets pregnant. This was just one of the many things that Jake has to learn to deal with throughout the movie. After Roger’s death, a local youth pastor makes a point to connect with Jake. Throughout the movie, it shows how Jake begins and grows in his new relationship with Christ. The movie, through watching Jake deal with the oncoming challenges that face him, can give kids a new sense of hope for the constant daily struggles that teens face today.
In a movie review, of the movie To Save A Life, the author admits that “one of the biggest problems in most Christian genre movies is their lack of edge, a reluctance on the part of the filmmakers to show ugly reality – real problems, real people who use drugs, have sex outside of marriage, get drunk and use profanity.” The author goes on to say that “pretty much by definition, that’s a Catch-22.” This author demonstrated that he was not all for the movie, nor was he all against it either. One thing he did give credit to the movie for was for being blunt about issues that teen face today.
In another article, that reviews the movie in a less professional setting, the author criticizes the movie for mentioning all the struggles instead of just focusing on one or two. The fact of the matter is, though, teens today can not pick and choose what issues that want to deal with on a daily basis, they are struck with all of them all at once. Although this movie deals with drinking, drugs, sex, divorce, cutting, teen pregnancy, and suicide it deals with each one in a very realistic way. Teens, after watching this movie, can come away with a new hope that God can work through all the crap that life brings.
This movie does not try to hide God at all. In fact, To Save a Life does a good job of showing that God will always be there for us when we are going through hard times. Even when we think we don’t deserve Him, He is there. As Jake goes through all of the many struggles that face him, he learns a lot about what God is trying to show him, through all these challenges. This is movie sets a good example, for teens today who are struggling in their daily lives, because it encourages students to make the most out of each situation.