Tuesday, 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. More...