Researcher Says Movie 'Saved' May Leave Impressionable Youth Lost
 

(AgapePress) - The lead researcher for the American Family Association (AFA) says a new movie with a deceptive title attempts to portray Christians as hypocrites and is nothing more than anti-Christian propaganda.

AFA's Ed Vitagliano recently attended a showing of the movie Saved, and he is warning parents and their kids should stay away from this latest Hollywood attempt to discredit people of faith. The pro-family spokesman says the movie, which is set at a Christian high school, depicts the Christian characters as mean-spirited hypocrites, and the goal of the movie makers is clear.

"Basically the whole thing points to evangelical Christians as people who are mean-spirited, who use the Bible as a weapon, and who are hopelessly self-righteous and hypocritical," Vitagliano says. He notes that the movie turned out to be even worse than he had expected and says, "I had read a lot of reviews of it and was actually surprised to see just how overt this basically propagandistic film was."

At one point in Saved, the character played by actress Jena Malone believes she has been led by Jesus to sleep with her boyfriend, a newly-professed homosexual. She then gets pregnant and is condemned and cruelly ostracized by vicious and self-righteous "friends" at her Christian high school. Meanwhile, the heroine's mother is involved in an adulterous affair with the school's married principal, Pastor Skip.

Ted Baehr, a Christian film reviewer and publisher the pro-family Movieguide, described Saved in a recent press interview as a film that is downright hateful in its portrayal of Christians, and one that is likely to send young believers off with "Christo-phobia or anti-Christian attitudes." (See Earlier Article)

Vitagliano agrees that this is a genuine concern and says this movie is obviously trying to promote the postmodern idea that Jesus would tolerate people's sins -- a message that he says is very dangerous for impressionable young people to hear.

"The message comes across very clearly in this movie that Christianity -- and in fact, Jesus Christ -- would not point out people's sins," the researcher says, "and that diversity and tolerance are the way a true Christian would behave. Authority figures, especially pastors and parents, can often be hypocrites, which is what this movie talks about."

Vitagliano contends that Saved is a dangerous film that could potentially be damaging to young people's faith and could confuse them about the true nature of Christianity. Parents should not be fooled by this blatantly anti-Christian film, he says, and under no circumstances should they allow their children to see it.

Christian Reviewer Warns New Movie 'Saved' Makes Mockery of Faith

By Jenni Parker
May 18, 2004

(AgapePress) - A Christian film and television reviewer and pro-family advocate is warning moviegoers about a new film being marketed in the guise of a Christian teen comedy. But the media expert says audiences need to be aware that this film is not what it seems.

The soon-to-be released movie Saved is a story purportedly about Christian teenagers, set at a fictional Christian high school and starring popular young actors such as Mandy Moore (A Walk to Remember, The Princess Diaries), McCaulay Culkin (Home Alone, Richie Rich), Jena Malone (Cold Mountain) and Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous). But far from being a family film or even an innocent teen comedy, some reviewers are pointing out that Saved may be the most offensively anti-Christian piece of Hollywood hype to hit theater screens in years.

Christian Film & Television Commission founder Ted Baehr warns believers not to let themselves be fooled by some ads that tout the film as a lighthearted satire. He says the upcoming movie portrays Christians as hateful, uptight, bigots and ignorant gossips, and hypocrites. The film carries a PG-13 rating for sexual content, but to the Christian viewer, those scenes might be viewed as the tip of the iceberg.

Baehr notes that even the best of the Christian characters in the story make for poor representatives of the faith. In one scene, the heroine (Malone) has a vision, in which she imagines "Jesus" is telling her to have sex with her boyfriend to "save him" after he announces he may be homosexual. She subsequently gets pregnant and is condemned and ostracized by a former friend (Moore) and the rest of their vicious and self-righteous classmates.

At one point Moore's character promises to keep the pregnancy of her one-time best friend a secret; but then she takes the first opportunity to spread the news around the school in the form of a "prayer request." Then there is the heroine's boyfriend, who is sent to a care center and returns home with a homosexual partner (just in time to crash a school dance) and a fully confirmed commitment to his homosexual lifestyle. And all this while, the heroine's mother is depicted as carrying on an adulterous affair with the school's married principal, "Pastor Skip."

Baehr, who publishes the pro-family Movieguide, described Saved in an Associated Press interview as a film that is downright hateful in its portrayal of Christians, and one that is likely to have a damaging impact on young believers. "A lot of Christian kids, especially the ones that they've been marketing this to, are going to come away with 'Christo-phobia, with anti-Christian attitudes -- you know, 'All those Christians are mean, horrible people' -- and it is not true," he says.

And Baehr is not alone in his opinion. In a review, contributor Jeremy Landes wrote that the film was obviously not made with a Christ-centered audience in mind. In fact, he contends, it is apparently designed to appeal to "Americans who, according to most polls, believe a God exists but can't agree on whether He has called them to live according to any standard. The heroes of the film (who challenge their hypocritical principal, parents, and classmates) acknowledge God with their lips, but they live according to their own desires and moral standards, not Christ's."

Even some reviewers for secular publications have panned the film and criticized its mean-spirited Christian-bashing. Reviewer Ed Gonzalez of Slant magazine calls Saved "a film that sees only in black-and-white" and says the spectacle of its most vicious characters and their un-Christian behavior exists primarily "to mock a belief system" and "to promote anti-Christian resentment."

Saved was directed by filmmaker Brian Dannelly and produced by singer-songwriter Michael Stipe of the alternative rock Band R.E.M. Stipe himself characterizes the movie in terms that leave little doubt about how those behind the film regard evangelical Christians. Quoted on an Internet movie site, Stipe compared Saved to "those monster vampire high school kind of movies, only here the monsters are Jesus-freak teenagers."

Instead of going to see Saved, Ted Baehr suggests that moviegoers might want to check out Raising Helen. He says the latter film, although also rated PG-13 for some thematic issues dealing with teens, has a far more positive Christian message.

Response - Movie 'Saved!' May Lead You To Christ

I can't help but take this movie positively to lead people to Christ even though its producers are non-believers.

At the end of the movie when the baby is delivered, the teenage mother concludes God did it! How can that not lead you to Christ? They inadvertently are showing us Jesus is God; and God the Father is the forgiver of sins. All sins can be washed away by the precious blood if you give your life to Christ.

She was saved right there and then. Though most people in the movie are clearly unsaved, the teenage mother was saved, for her heart was real towards God near the end of the movie. She truly came to the cross as a helpless sinner to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior in her discussion with God. If she is not saved of the bunch, then no one is. 

And yes, homosexuality in the movie is still a sin and so are the long list of sins committed by many people in the movie. One thing this movie shows is a person who is saved is just as prone to sin as a sinner is, except that, they have something a sinner does not have, which is a regenerated spirit with God's uncreated and eternal life in which the Holy Spirit indwells. From this life, there is the power to overcome sins. Because humans are so temporal, they want immediate results. What they don't realize is this new life we (Christians) have now in the new creation takes some time to reach unto perfection. Be patient. God took 13.7 billion years to create; surely, we can be patient with God's timing and our deliverance from sin, natural and the supernatural. The lesson here is, don't try to force the issue. Don't worship God by the flesh. Will-worship will not make a person one bit more spiritual. Let God heal you and humbly by the grace of His power.

There is lots of self-exaltation in the movie of the unsaved in their own good deeds with the idea they don't need Christ and can perform with a conscience just as well as any Christian. In and of themselves, those claims are true, and Christians were behaving badly, if we assume they were Christians. However, that is still no excuse to remain an unregenerate. We are talking about loss of eternal life if they remain unsaved. The lesson here is most wonderful to see. What Satan likes to do is feed the "good self" as a means to still keep someone separated from God as well as to puff up someone who really is saved.

May I say in all sincerity, the above reviewers of this movie seem themselves too high and mighty and need to impress upon people the positive aspect of this movie. I don't see that was done at all! Therefore, they are just clanging bells. After all it is just a movie. I don't like a lot of people who call themselves Christians (may or may not be saved), but if saved, they are my brothers and sisters in Christ who I will be with in the new city. I know they will be sinless and selfless one day as will I because we are God's children. And that is a guarantee!

How much better it would be to stop Satan in his tracks by showing how the movie inadvertently actually leads people to Christ as was shown. Satan messed up. He is prone to mistakes. Isn't that amazing how I just defeated Satan by the Holy Spirit even though Satan has been around millions or billions of years, and I have only been a new creation for a few short years? With God's life, I was able to defeat that old serpent with the power of words reflecting the quickening of the spirit. God did it! Just as the movie concludes. This shows how much more powerful God's Own uncreated eternal life is given to His sons and daughters.  Amen.

 

In Christ,

Troy Brooks