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Sarah's Choice

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DVD REVIEW

A Look at Rebecca St. James’ New Movie

By Beth Patch
CBN.com Producer

CBN.com - Usually recognized for expressing her love for Christ through award-winning songs, singer Rebecca St. James performs her first lead role in Sarah’s Choice, a realistic movie about choosing between abortion and life. Her character, Sarah, has no plans of marriage or becoming a mother. She is gaining recognition in the corporate world and under consideration for an enviable career boost when she discovers she is pregnant.

The film portrays all the believable influences for abortion through her co-workers, pro-abortion medical clinic, and her personal motives to stay on the career track. Her interactions with her family, her Christian roots, and three distinct nocturnal “visions” are included with her pro-life influences. Making the choice to keep or abort her baby is clearly her choice alone in this story, as it is in our society.

Sarah’s Choice carries a clear pro-life message. The film team approached this volatile subject without including extreme graphic representations of abortions or bedroom scenes, making it suitable for family viewing, as well as, for church groups. The message also includes redemption and forgiveness for those who regret aborting an unborn child in their past. The value of including this element cannot be understated.

The argument over abortion in our society has frequently focused on a woman’s right to make her own choice. The “murder” aspect of abortion is often side-stepped by pro-abortionists and placed front and center by pro-lifers. The film does not over-indulge this aspect of choice. Instead, the viewer hears the clinician compare the fetus’ life to a wart and accompanies Sarah as she does her own investigating online to discover the actual development of the life in her womb at the six-week stage of life. Focusing on how God looks at the life in a womb and our need to trust him to get us through difficult circumstances takes the lead, bringing the audience beyond the negative and into the positive. There is a discussion guide available for groups interested in using Sarah’s Choice as a springboard for digging deeper on the topic.

Since St. James’ name recognition will entice many to view this film, this critic would have enjoyed hearing her sing during the movie. Weaving the music into Sarah’s character would have taken a good deal of creativity from the screenwriter, but it also would have been a big bonus for St. James’ fans. Thankfully, they will hear her, as she wrote “Little One”, a song used as background music at the end of the film. Infusing her character with the passion she portrays in music might have added to the movie’s message in an unanticipated way, especially since her acting abilities are in the developing stages.

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Beth Patch serves as the Global Ministries and Spiritual Life Devotions producer for CBN.com. For more articles and info, visit Beth's bio page.