at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Lee’s Summit (501 N. Missouri – just off Douglas).We’ll be watching and discussing the movie SAVED! After a brief introduction, we’ll view the movie and have a short discussion about the issues it raises. Childcare will be provided.
Movie Description: Mary Cummings introduces herself as a born-again Christian who has been following Jesus since the age of three. She lives with her mother and is just about to start her final year at American Eagle Christian High School, which is run by Pastor Skip. She is happy with her lot: she has Jesus at the centre of her life, is a member of a group of friends at school called the Christian Jewels, and has a perfect Christian boyfriend, Dean. All seems to be going well for Mary.
That is, however, until she and Dean are in the swimming pool one day. They play a game which involves telling each other secrets while underwater. Dean tells Mary that he thinks he is gay. Shocked, Mary shoots up to the surface but hits her head on her ascent, and has what she believes is a vision of Jesus telling her to help Dean and cure him of his homosexual tendencies. Mary decides that the best way to do this is to seduce him and so they sleep together. Soon afterwards, Dean’s parents send him away to Mercy House to undergo a process of ‘de-gayification’. Mary is very confused about her faith and what she has done – and becomes even more so when she discovers she is pregnant.
Mary is ostracized by her old friends and so strikes up
friendships with Cassandra – the school’s only Jewish girl who has been allowed into the school so that she can be saved, and Roland, Hilary Faye’s cynical, wheelchair-bound brother who has been ostracized by his sister and others at the school because of his disability. Mary also attracts the attention of Pastor Skip’s son Patrick.Saved! has been steeped in controversy since its premier at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004. It is an all-American high school movie with a difference – it is set in a Christian high school and seems to be a parody of such Christian institutions. This film has offended Christian and non-Christian critics alike, although a few have found its satire funny and accurate.
Saved! is director and co-writer Brian Danelly's first feature film. He was born in Germany, and moved to the US when he was 11, attending a Catholic elementary school, a Jewish summer camp and a Baptist high school. He says, ‘The biggest lesson I learned from my experience became a line in the script: “They can’t all be wrong and they can’t all be right.’ He studied visual arts in college before becoming a directing fellow at the American Film Institute. The producer of the film is REM's singer/songwriter Michael Stipe.
How does the world view Christians? What stereotypes do Christians feed into and what things should change in our discussion of tolerance?
Come join us for an evening of cinema and discussion.
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