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June 22, 2004
Hypocrisy, religion comedic fodder for new teen movie 'Saved'

By Jean Gordon

Details


Saved! will show through Thursday at Tinseltown Theater on Riverwind
Drive in Pearl. Phone: (601) 936-5856.

Christianity Today offers a discussion guide for the film at
www.christianitytoday.com/movies/reviews/saved.html#talk.

The film's distributor has also issued a study guide for youth groups
available at: www.savedmovie.com/studyguide.pdf.


Steve Craft admits to lingering a few minutes whenever he pops into
Tinseltown's theater number four to sweep up popcorn and collect
drink cups from the floor.

That's because theater four is currently showing the movie Saved!, a
new teen comedy set in an evangelical Christian high school.

Craft, 21, said though he's curious about the film, he doesn't plan
to watch it straight through.

"It's a mockery," he said about the movie's portrayal of the
Christian faith.

Though some critics say the film depicts evangelical Christians as
judgmental hypocrites, many say the movie's ultimate message is pro-
faith.

"It's about life, not Jesus," said Ottar Mobley, 19, who saw the film
Thursday. "But that doesn't mean life can't include faith."

The movie tells the story of a devoted Christian high school senior
named Mary (Jena Malone) who believes the best way to rid her
boyfriend, Dean (Chad Faust), of his homosexual feelings is to have
sex with him.

Her plan doesn't work.

When Dean's parents find out about his sexuality, they ship him off
to a Christian home for "de-gayification."

Soon after, Mary discovers she's pregnant, which sets off her crisis
of faith.

Rejected by her self-righteous friend Hilary Faye (Mandy Moore), Mary
finds acceptance from the school rebel Cassandra (Eva Amurri), who is
Jewish, and her wheelchair-bound boyfriend Roland (Macaulay Culkin).

For Caroline Ficara, a 24-year-old case assistant at a Jackson law
firm, the film's depiction of life at a Christian high school was
actually more liberal than her experience at a nondenominational
Christian high school in Baton Rouge.

There, she said girls who got pregnant were quietly shuttled out of
school and barred from walking across the stage at graduation to pick
up their diplomas.

Rather than being offensive, Ficara said the movie offered a positive
message.

"It's about acceptance," she said.

Tinseltown staffer Murray Nichols, 18, agreed Saved! presented a
constructive lesson about tolerance, but he said it also put forth
some troubling ideas — particularly the suggestion that it's OK
to be
homosexual.

"I'm strong against homosexuality," he said. "It made it seem like
being gay is right in the eye of God.

Christianity Today called the movie "ultimately pro-faith," but said
it makes some perceptive criticisms of evangelicals. A review posted
on the magazine's Web site said the film explores and satirizes "the
sometimes hateful and hypocritical ways some Christians treat
homosexuals and anyone with apparent sin."

Still, the review took issue with the movie's "lack of balance
between hypocritical, judgmental Christians and loving, accepting
Christians."

"It's kind of a liberal movie," Nichols said. "And I'm pretty
conservative."