Movie Reviews

I just watched the documentary Super Size Me and the movie Saved. Super Size Me was an interesting and disgusting look at the fast food industry and the crap in general that we put into our bodies. Considering the fact that I had just eaten at Red Lobster, my stomach literally hurt after viewing the documentary, and I needed some fresh air afterwards. It made me really worry about what we put into our bodies, not just because I don’t want to gain weight, but more so because I don’t want to have heart disease or get diabetes or have any other health problem that seems to be associated with bad eating habits. This guy’s cholesterol, triglycerides, and all sorts of other tests and readings were off the charts after eating nothing but McDonald’s for 30 days, and he wasn’t even remotely fat (although he did gain over 20 pounds). So weight is not the only indicator of an unhealthy lifestyle, and thinking about what I typically eat is kind of scary sometimes!

Anyway, as for the movie Saved … well, I thought I would be offended, but I actually rather liked it. Of course, you can take “lessons” away from this movie in many different ways – non Christians will use the movie’s themes as further evidence of why Christianity is rigid and outdated and judgmental, which is a shame, since I think the script was one-sided in how it portrayed Christians. On the other hand, as a Christian, I think it is a good look at how the world tends to view Christianity, but not how Jesus intended for us to behave. And it is wise for Christians to compare how we live and act, and what motivates us to do the things we do, against how the “Christian” characters in this movie lived - they were definitely not a model we should strive to live up to, but rather a good example of the stereotype we must attempt to discredit. All religious undertones aside, I enjoyed the storyline and would recommend it to people as long as they were able to weed through the falsities and extract useful insight - which would be hard to do if you had limited knowledge of the Christian faith to begin with.

For a decent review of Saved by Walt Mueller, head of the Center for Parent and Youth Understanding, go to http://www.youthonfire.com/culture/films/Saved.html. I don’t agree with everything he says, but I found it interesting.