To Save a Life: In Review

Tad and I went to see To Save a Life on Saturday afternoon. We had to drive 45 minutes to the nearest theatre that was showing it (since it was a limited release). If you haven’t read my previous post on this movie, go here and read it before you read my thoughts here.

We are still deciding exactly what we thought of the movie. I’ll start with some of the positives.

First, the film was very poignant, and at times, even gut-wrenching. Hard to watch sometimes (due to the intensity), yet so good. The filmmakers really got their points across in a realistic and professional way. At the end of the movie, you don’t walk away wondering what they were trying to say; it is very clear.

Secondly, it was very well-done. Though this film had a small budget (compared to most movies), it still did not feel “cheap” in any way. The acting was some of the best we’ve ever seen in a Christian movie. This really gave us hope for the future of Christian film-making!

Thirdly, this movie will speak to many different audiences and age groups. We think many “youth group kids” would benefit from it, yet this is the type of movie they could bring their unsaved friends to. We, as youth workers, also found things from this movie that we could apply to our own lives and ministries.

Fourthly, we liked that the Gospel was not presented in a cheesy way. In fact, the Gospel is not presented in a line-by-line way at all. What I mean is, someone would not go see this movie and know everything that they need to know to be saved. However, they may desire to because of the way in which true Christianity is presented. When asked why they did not clearly present the Gospel message in the movie, the filmmakers responded with, “That’s your job.” As in, bring your unsaved friends to the movie and share the Gospel with them personally at the end.

Lastly, we liked the way they handled certain plot elements. We don’t want to spoil it for you if you haven’t seen it yet, but there were some issues (life choices, decisions, etc.) that we thought were handled well at the “wrap-up” of the movie.

There were some negatives of the movie, but they were mainly related to content which may offend some Christians. There is some language in the movie (according to the filmmakers, added for realism) and this could definitely offend some viewers. In addition to bad language, there are some topics discussed and other negative phrases used that also may not be appropriate for younger viewers. (All of these elements I am mentioning are discussed in full at Plugged In’s review here.)

For us, the most troublesome part of the movie would be the sensuality, as displayed in some immodest dress as well as a scene or two which we feel would not be appropriate for many younger (or less culturally exposed) teens and adults. We know that many teens (even some Christians) are watching movies with much worse content, so we understand that the dress, etc. in this film probably would not shock them. We think that these teens would benefit from the positive elements of the movie (and would probably not bat an eye at the language, dress, etc. since they are exposed to that on a more regular basis at school and elsewhere). However, we know other families and teens who have made different choices as far as what types of movies and television to watch and so would find these elements not in keeping with their standards.

Because of these negative elements, we cannot give this movie our wholehearted endorsement. That’s hard for me to say, since I loved so very much of this movie (and, I’ll admit, cried through half of it).

We encourage you to use discretion as you decide for your family whether or not to watch it.