 One of the first overtly Christian CDs I ever heard was Rebecca St. James' featuring the song, "Here I Am." I remember it like yesterday. I was at a college Bible study when the leader of the group put a bunch of CDs on the table and told us, "Take whatever you want." I took 3 or 4 CDs that day, and that changed my life. If it wasn't for that moment, ChristianMusicDaily.com would not exist. And Rebecca's music, which I've followed as a fan ever since, has been there for me as I grew up, so when I heard she was starring in a movie, I wondered if the singer could pull it off. With the film "Sarah's Choice," I can wholeheartedly say Rebecca St. James has what it takes to carry a movie; she is, in my book, officially a movie star.
Born in Australia, and originally known as Rebecca Jean Smallbone, Rebecca St. James has long been an advocate for sexual purity. In other words, she has become the Christian community's posterchild for abstinence. Considering she's in her early thirties and not married, she's done considerably well at living up to the ideals she espouses. Interestingly, in the film "Sarah's Choice," she plays Sarah Collins, an ad agency exec, with a boyfriend who sleeps over. And most of the film centers on the fact that she's unexpectedly pregnant. Should she have an abortion? Should she keep the baby? Sarah has a life-altering choice to make, and this film presents both sides of the story in such a way that you could show it to anyone, whether they have a religious background or not, and feel comfortable that it won't totally offend them. Along her journey, many people in her life point out reasons NOT to have the baby, so it takes some divine intervention, in the form of dreams, along with wise counsel, for Sarah to make the ultimate choice.
Shot in Cleveland, Ohio, in the cold, snowy winter (a perfect setting for this film), "Sarah's Choice" involves a well-cast group of characters who all have their own agendas and beliefs. Sarah, the main character, is living in a small apartment and trying to climb the corporate ladder. She is "this close" to getting a big promotion at work, which would mean more money. However, she'd be taking over the position of a woman who just had a baby and is out on maternity leave. Sarah and her fellow female co-workers know that having a baby is not a good thing if they want to get ahead in their career. Sarah's friend and co-worker, the one who insists she take a pregnancy test, ends up revealing that she was a teenager who had an abortion. Sarah's boyfriend, Matt, hasn't "grown up yet," and when he finds out his girlfriend is pregnant, it's shocking news that he's not ready to deal with. Later on in the film, Matt essentially mans up to his responsibility and the pair decide to wed, with Matt declaring to Sarah, "I'll never leave you."
Sarah is a complex character. Her own father died a decade ago, and she's still paying off his medical bills. Her mother is a woman of faith who prayed for her husband to get better, yet he died. This made Sarah stray far from her Christian upbringing. In the film, she wrestles with her relationship with her mom, her faith-filled sister (played by Stacy Keanan, whom some of you might remember from the 1980s sitcom "My Two Dads" or the 1990s sitcom "Step By Step"; in this film she tries her hand at an Australian accent to be in-synch with Rebecca-- I'd give her a B+ for the accent), her co-workers, her boyfriend, and health care workers like her doctor (played by Charlene Tilton). Throughout much of the film, she keeps looking at a Christmas card featuring a drawing of the Nativity scene, a card given to her mysteriously by a woman who told her she'd have three visions about her decision. Indeed, Sarah has three dreams in which she sees her daughter as a baby, a young girl with whom she goes sledding, and as a new mother, so Sarah's a grandma. These dreams, coupled with a talk with the local church pastor, played by Dick Van Patten (of "of "Eight Is Enough" fame), help her see that the right choice for her is to have the baby.
Most "Christian films" are low budget, poorly done, unremarkable "films." Yet, PureFlix Entertainment, who have made this straight-to-DVD Nov. 17th film, get my vote of confidence for having made a film that can stand up next to any other Hollywood feature you see playing at your local Regal Cinema. I wouldn't be embarassed in the least to lend the DVD copy I got to my friends or family to watch, and I'd talk the film up to them because it was done "that well." Writers Sean Paul Murphy and Timothy Ratajczak, along with Director Chad Kapper, can and should be proud of "Sarah's Choice." From the music to the scenery to the camera angles and even the acting, "Sarah's Choice" seems to me the kind of DVD that should be in a lot of people's collections, especially those with young teenaged daughters who are thinking of or having sex with their boyfriends.
For more info, please visit www.pureflix.com/sarah.
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