For
this month’s ALOVE on film section, PHIL HOYLE
takes a look at a new American teen comedy…about
evangelical Christians?!
Mary (Malone) and her best
friend, the overpowering Hillary Faye (Moore),
are entering their senior year at the American
Eagle Christian high school at the top of
the social food chain. That is, until Mary’s
boyfriend tells her that he thinks he might
be gay. When Jesus appears to her in a vision,
Mary attempts to follow his advise to ‘do
everything she can to help him’ and,
to her horror, ends up pregnant. As a result,
Mary’s friendships and faith are put
to the test as she struggles to understand
life, love and exactly what it means to be
saved!
I think it’s fair to say that Christians
in movies normally get a rough ride. I mean,
think about it, most portrayals would have
us believe that we’re either hellfire-and-brimstone
spitting monsters, or, at the other end of
the scale, a form of whining invertebrate,
slightly less wet than a sea slug.
So when I was asked to review a movie set
in the Bible Belt and produced by Michael
Stipe (of REM and specifically ‘Losing
my Religion’ fame) I thought I could
probably write the review without seeing the
movie. It would’ve begun ‘Saved!
Relies too heavily on stereotypical portrayals
of Christians which are all overplayed and
as such it lacks any real power…’
But, I must confess, Saved! pleasantly surprised
me. Sure, it’s essentially an American
‘teen’ movie, so everyone’s
pretty good (or at least inoffensive) looking,
it has a simple storyline and an almost unbelievable
resolution, but it’s handling of Christian
faith and life as a reasonably good looking
Christian teen in the US is much more subtle
than I gave it credit for.
Where I expected stereotypes, I actually saw
characters (almost every part in the film
has at least two and a half dimensions, if
not three) and where I expected a biased portrayal
of Christian practise, I actually saw a worship
service that I could have been at; and we
should all recognise a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it
scene that appears to be set at Shocking!
Much of this ‘realism’ is down
to the enthusiasm of the cast. Mandy Moore
especially revels in playing the acid tongued
Hillary Faye and lands some classic one-liners,
such as ‘I’m saving myself for
marriage… and I’ll use force if
necessary.’
'The outsiders of the school, Cassandra (Eva
Amurri) the only Jewish student and Roland
(Macaulay Culkin) Hillary Faye’s wheelchair
bound brother, get to counterbalance the hypocrisy
with some neatly placed put downs. Bouncing
between the two camps, Mary questions her
faith whilst falling for the Pastor’s
Skater Boi son, Patrick (Patrick Fugit), and
it’s her journey that leads us to question
the preconceptions and obsessions we hold
dear in church.
I should say that some scenes may offend more
fragile viewers (a speaking in tongues scene especially
sticks in the mind), but over all ‘Saved!’
was a pleasant and challenging experience.
Saved! is coming to UK DVD
soon and is already available on region 1 import.
