I have to admit to some bias here- Sarah's Choice is a Christian movie with a pro-life message, and I am a Christian who is pro-life.
However, I have seen some bad pro-life faith based movies, like Unplanned, where a woman claims to be naive about the horrors of abortion before seeing an ultrasound-guided procedure and then backtracks and says that she had 2 abortions beforehand and almost died from the 2nd one.
There's also Loving The Bad Man, where the moral went from "babies concieved from rape don't deserve to be aborted" to "you should fall in love with your rapist."
Now that you know this about me- that I'm pro-life and I don't think that all pro-life films are great, let me say that I thought Sarah's Choice was a good and very moving film.
Sarah, played by singer Rebecca St. James, is a business woman who is hoping for a promotion at work. However, she can't get it if she gets pregnant, as a baby will interfere with the devotion her job will require. Lo and behold- Sarah does get pregnant, and now she must decide to choose life or abortion, and if her career matters more than her child.
This leads to 3 visions in which Sarah raises her child, and she wonders if these visions mean that she should choose life. (I'm not going to lie, I think for this alone, the movie should have been called It's A Wonderful Pro-Life. LOL.)
While Rebecca St. James's acting isn't Oscar worthy, I thought she gave a very decent performance, and the strongest one out of everyone. The pro-life arguments are also pretty accurate (I study pro-life arguments and the fetal development seemed to fit- such as Sarah discovering her pregnancy at 6 weeks.)
The movie also had some compassion for Sarah, understanding her struggle, and frustrations with her Mom who criticizes her for "having the pleasures of marriage but not the responsibility" and for "wanting to commit one sin after committing another." (Not direct quotes.)
One of Sarah's family members (a cousin I think) also offers to adopt or care for the baby if she wants, and doesn't shame Sarah like her mother does. She, unlike Sarah's Mom, shows how one should show compassion in a situation like this.
On top of that, the story was very moving, and I even teared up a little.
Sarah's Choice does have some flaws- such as camera work and acting that could have been better. One character could have also been written better- a co-worker friend named Megan (played by Andrea Logan- who has done voices for VeggieTales videos- just like Rebecca St. James.)
Megan is very insistent to Sarah that she should get an abortion. She of course says "your body, your choice" (while only advocating to choose abortion), and she brags about getting an abortion at 16 after sleeping with her boyfriend, who is now a pizza delivery boy- what a loser, right?
She also blames "religious pro-lifers" for Sarah's considerations to choose life- I feel like that's a knock on pro-choicers and how they view the pro-life movement, although that is a real stereotype despite the existence of pro-life atheists.
Had Megan (and Sarah's Mom) shown more sympathy like Sarah's cousin did, I feel like that would have been stronger character development from a writing angle.
As for my personal connection to the movie, I also feel that I should mention that I had a SISTER named Sarah who was mentally and physically challenged, and a doctor wanted my Mom to choose abortion, and she made my Mom get a different doctor when she said no. (Very "pro-choice" of her...) No one thought that smy sister would live to see her first birthday, but she lived to see her 23rd.
I mention this, because the decision to name the main character Sarah stuck out to me and made me think of my sister's story. I know that's a tangent for this review, but that was another reason that this movie inspired me.
Like I said, Sarah's Choice was a moving and powerful film, and as imperfect as the movie is, that aspect shines above its flaws. It's not a perfect movie, and it's not to be compared with Citizen Kane or The Godfather, but it was still a very touching story, and I definitely recommend it.
Note: One of the 1/10 star reviews complained that abortion is a difficult issue and a hard decision for any woman to make and this movie didn't portray that. (I clearly disagree with that 2nd part.)
The reviewer also gave High School Musical 2 a 6/10 on the basis (according to their review heading) that it "needed more abortions." So...make of that what you will.
