‘To Save a Life’ (2009)

Dave’s 3-Word Review:
Ambitious, but Excessive

No, I’m not talking about that uber-popular song by “The Fray” that came out in 2006, I am talking about the movie that probably tried to take the popularity of that song and made a movie with the same title of the song minus the “how”.  Yes, this Christian film was entitled “To Save a Life”. Now I am very well-known in my disdain toward Christian films. No, it’s not because I don’t understand what they are going for, I very well do, and it’s deep and important a lot of the time. I am just, in general, looking for something that is more for appreciation of film in general, and all of the hard work that goes into it to make it interesting for a very wide selection of people, which is why I tend to like R-Rated Christian films more, so they don’t have a filter and can make it realistic as possible. That being said, how does “To Save a Life” pan out?

Meet Jake (Randy Wayne), a semi-popular kid in school. He and Roger (Robert Bailey Jr.) have been best friends ever since they could remember. However, Jake has grown since then, and has started realizing other things in life, like girls. When the cute girl in school shows him attention, he blows off Roger to hang out with her. The very next thing we see is Roger killing himself. It does go through and explain this, but it just seems like the kid was being a drama-queen. So the boy dies, and Jake is sad for about one minute before he is off at another party with the biggest grin I’ve ever seen. Then we see Jake as he starts a journey of self-discovery through his local church, which teaches him the right way to live, and how not to make another kid kill himself, which of course, almost happens.

This is a Christian film, very much so. It’s not so much of a “sit-down-and-talk-about-Christ” movie, because about 95% of the movie takes place in either a church, or somewhere else where the characters are talking about church or God in some fashion or another. It’s iffy, but I do like this better than the stereotypical sit-down scene that is found in almost every single Christian movie. When you are watching one, waiting for it to happen, you know you have a problem. Anyway, the movie is also a coming-of-age flick, which means there is no real plot of the movie.

Typically, no matter what the movie is, I hate it if it is coming-of-age. I hate it because there is no plot. You are just following them along, but this one was..well…okay. It makes sense, because coming-of-age is almost the exact definition for someone accepting a religion. The problem is, no matter how hard the movie tries, you can’t enjoy it unless you are a hardcore Christian.

Now, it does have some very important issues that it goes over. It has drinking, teen pregnancy, bullying, suicide…you name it, it’s there. However, the problem is that it is way too clustered. Any movie that tries this hard is trying too hard. The movie did revolve mostly around bullying and suicide, which I’ll go over briefly. The bullying and suicide aspect was done very well. They were able to pinpoint exactly the types of people that are targeted for bullying, and they conveyed the things they go through before turning suicidal. They got that part down pat. What they missed is…emotions from people around them after it happens. There is a funeral and everyone is sad, and the very next thing you see is them partying and having the best night of their life.

Usually, Christian films don’t have what this has in it overall, and I applaud it for that, but it still couldn’t shake the feeling of amateur filmmaking. The acting wasn’t really there, the editing was sloppy, the sound cut in and out at strange places, the lighting could have used a great deal of help, and the story could have used so much more organization. Pick a topic and stick with it, it is ambitious to try to fit everything in, but it was all over the place.

I also understand what they were going for with Jake treating his friends badly, which ended up in suicide. Watch how you act and think before you speak…I get it. Realistically speaking though, it made no sense. This happened twice; as if Jake himself was cursed not to be able to do what he wanted, whether that was good or bad. He had no free will, because God would apparently guilt trip him if he didn’t do what God wanted. Again, I understand from a Christian standpoint, but from a filmmaking standpoint? That just looks stupid.

So in the end, what they are trying to convey will translate only for their target audience, if their target audience is ONLY Christians. If non-Christians would like a movie to check out that has bullying and suicide in it, then check out “Cyberbully”.