Synopsis
Don is about to graduate high school and head off to a Christian college. Days before he leaves he discovers that his mother is having an affair with his married youth pastor. So because of this he decides to abandon his Christian school (and his faith in general) and heads off to Reed College, a school his dad enrolled him into that is the complete opposite of everything Don is.
My Verdict
Now if you haven't read my opinion on Christian films them you should and then come back to this. This isn't so much a "Christian film" as it is a film with Christian themes which is probably why I liked it. For me, the over all theme was to not be ashamed of your faith and your experiences and this film did an interesting way of showing this. I thought that this movie would be about this Christian kid from Texas going to this non-Christian school and getting the biggest culture shock of his life, but I was wrong. (This wasn't predictable!) I thought that Don would be open about his faith but people would understand him and so he would act one way in front of his college friends and another way in front of his Christian friends, but that wasn't the case. It was really about Don finding out who he is and whether that included the Christian faith or not. He completely abandoned anything that had to do with the Christian faith which is something that I see a lot, especially when people go to college. It's something about moving away from home and that freedom that makes you do things you never thought you would do. The film didn't make it seem like it was bad that Don abandoned his faith. It was an experience he had to go through to help in grow and the overall lesson that he learned was the most important thing.
I also said that the theme was about not being ashamed or your experiences. Without giving away anything, Don becomes friends with a guy who's gone through something. They have this scene at the end that's really great, but that's all I'm going to say because I don't want to spoil it for you.
I'm giving this movie a 6/10. It was one of the more realistic Christian films I've seen. Also, it wasn't predictable which is always a good thing.
Spoilers
I want to say a little bit more about that ending scene with Don and The Pope. I just loved the fact that The Pope admitted that he was the one that was abused by the priest. It's exactly why I said one of the themes is not being ashamed of your experiences. In a way, The Pope and Don are extremely similar. They both had something traumatic happen to them in or associated with the church that caused them to abandon it. I think this is why they became such great friends and were able to have that heart to heart in the confessional booth.
Okay that's all I wanted to say about this film. Let me know if you watched it and what you thought in the comments below.
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