http://www.knotmag.com/?article=1355

Saved!

6.25.2004

Al Simonis

In My Humble Opinion

Jesus saves sinners, and redeems them for valuable prizes!
The current art house darling Saved! is the most recent addition to
the panoply of controversial religious-themed films. Although it
hasn't been getting quite the press of some of the other movies
mentioned above, Saved! did have the distinction recently of being
denounced by the Christian Film and Television Commission. On May
19th, CFTVC founder Ted Baehr issued a statement calling the
film, "a sad, bigoted, anti-Christian movie that mocks the Christian
faith," and that its distributor, MGM studios, "is marketing it to
Christian children to try to divorce them from their faith!"
(source) With all due respect to Mr. Baehr, I could not disagree
more with his assessment of this film.

First off, I would not call this movie "sad" at all; on the
contrary, I found the film's overall mood to be rather bright and
cheery. The photography is lush and vivid, the music is upbeat, and
the characters are, for the most part, positive and happy. To be
fair, many of these qualities border on becoming caricatures of
themselves, however the film is intended to be a comedy and
therefore the hint of irony is appropriate for the film. Of course,
that's just my opinion, humble as it may be; Mr. Baehr is certainly
entitled to his viewpoint as well.

"Bigoted" is also a judgment call for each viewer to make. Obviously
Mr. Baehr feels that the film is intolerant of his belief system; I
on the other hand found nothing that conflicted with my conception
of Christianity. Perhaps it is because the Christianity portrayed in
Saved! is so far removed from my ELCA Lutheran upbringing, that I
was able to see it without any hang-ups. On the contrary, I was
actually offended by Mr. Baehr's remarks, on two distinct points:
first, his attempt to prejudice the potential audience by releasing
his statement over a week before the movie's scheduled release date,
and second his tacit implication (by using the phrase "the Christian
faith") that his statement represents the opinions of all Christians
of all denominations. That, sir, is called hubris.

Now then, on to the meat of the issue: is Saved! an "anti-Christian"
movie? Well, for starters, I'd like to once again point out that
there hasn't really been a single "Christian" faith for well over
500 years, starting with the Great Schism between the Catholic and
Orthodox faiths. Since then, there have been innumerable other
splits and splinters, and each resulting religion is slightly
different from the next in terms of structure, doctrine, social
beliefs, and numerous other points and positions. Methodism is not
like the Russian Orthodox church, and Catholicism is not
Pentecostal, etc.... I can tell you from my own experience that
there are at least three distinct forms of Lutheranism, which for
some people is as astounding as realizing that there's more than one
brand of stapler.

The exact denomination represented in Saved! is not implicitly
named, however it looks pretty fundamentalist. The moral code
enforced at the film's American Eagles Christian High School seems
fairly reactionary, although the atmosphere feels almost
progressive, with it's Christian Rock Music and jive-talkin' Pastor
Skip (Martin Donovan). The combination doesn't match any form of
Christianity I'm presently familiar with, although it's not too
dissimilar to what I like to call Stadium churches: those vast arena-
like structures that seat several thousand people, and require video
feeds for people to see the preacher. If anything, the film takes a
few lighthearted jabs at the contemporary aspects of the school's
Christianity, but outside of die-hard fans of Creed and Jesus
Christ: Superstar, I don't think anyone needs to fear their religion
is being made fun of.

Getting back to Mr. Baehr's arguments though, on the films opening
day (May 28th) he issued another statement, presumably after he had
actually seen the film. In this press release (found on
Movieguide.org, one of his group's websites), he states that in his
opinion, "The one character who tries to preach the Gospel in the
movie...is actually the villain." He is referring in this case to
Hillary Faye, played by pop singer Mandy Moore. Well Mr. Baehr,
you're right on one count: Hillary Fay is the "villain" of the film,
however she does not preach the Gospel, she uses it as a weapon to
assert her own dominance over her peers. She is prideful, vengeful,
ignorant, and mean-spirited, and uses her appearance of piety the
way the popular kids in secular teen films use their cars, clothes,
and cash to, ahem, "Lord" it over her classmates. Hillary Fay is all
about the "Good Deeds" or "Works of the Law" that St. Paul talks
about in the Bible, without any real hint of the "Faith" that he
says truly justifies a person's relationship with God. Mr. Baehr, if
this is the character you most related to your own religion, you
have some serious issues you need to deal with: I'd start with
Romans 3:28.

If Hillary Fay were the only major representation of Christianity in
this film, Mr. Baehr might have a point. However, I'd suggest he
also take a closer look at Pastor Skip's son Patrick (Patrick
Fugit). Patrick is certainly a religious guy, after all he was
member of a Christian skateboarding team, and played Jesus in the
production of Superstar I mentioned before. Beyond that though, he's
kind, patient, inquisitive, and open-minded. When it is revealed
that the lead character Mary (Jena Malone) is pregnant out of
wedlock, Patrick is one of the few people in the film who doesn't
write her off or abandon her. Hmm, sounds like something Jesus
would've done...

Otherwise, Mr. Baehr also points out that the film contains
homosexual characters, a lone Jewish student who "claims" to be a
stripper (he said she claims -- I assumed from watching that it was
a rumor started about her by others), a wheelchair-bound atheist,
and other assorted misfits. Mr. Baehr calls the film's attitude,
presumably with these characters in mind, "politically correct;" I
call it Christ-like. Jesus associated with prostitutes and other
social outcasts. He used nonbelievers as the heroes in his own
parables. And, most notably, Jesus healed the sick and the lame,
instead of wheeling them around to make himself appear compassionate
and involved like Mr. Baehr's friend Hillary Fay.

Finally, what of his assertion that Saved! is part of a master plan
by MGM to corrupt America's youth? Personally, I can't think of any
motive a movie studio could have besides making money. Whether or
not they have good instincts when it comes to cashing in on religion
remains to be seen, however I can't conceive of any reason why they
would actively attempt to alienate the pan-Christian audience by
releasing something that would offend them. And guess what -- they
didn't! Saved! is an entertaining film with interesting ideas, none
of which should be of any danger to someone whose faith is firm, but
open to discussion. In fact the only real issue I had with the film
was a somewhat preachy ending, where even Hillary Fay sees the error
of her ways -- Mr. Baehr, perhaps there's hope for even you as well.