Saved!

“You’re not born a gay, you’re born again!”

In the imaginary competition between Juno and Saved, Saved wins hands down. Mandy Moore throws a Bible at a pregnant girl while dressed as one of Charlie’s Angels, okay? This movie is worth watching for that scene alone. Not to mention the part where Mandy Moore drives her car into Jesus.

In queer news, aattempt to save a gay kid from homosexuality sets the entire film in motion. When Mary, who has been born again her entire life, finds out that her boyfriend, a completely sincere figure-skater for Jesus, is gay, she knows that she has to save him. She also has this vision from Christ:

When she finds out that the love of Christ can restore a girl’s virginity, she knows that Jesus wants her to have sex with Dean. By the time Mary finds out she’s pregnant, Dean has been whisked away to Mercy House, a depository for Christian kids who fall prey to drugs, alcohol, teen pregnancy, or gayness. When the rest of the school finds out about Dean’s gayness, they hold a prayer circle, and tell Mary that they’re sorry about his faggotry. Mary gets sick of her community's judgment and hypocrisy and starts hanging out with the school's scandalous Jew, who helps her shoplift maternity clothes.

For a moment, Mary thinks about telling her mom she’s pregnant, but when her mom tells her that if Mary were gay, she’d send her to Mercy House like Dean because she wouldn’t know how to handle it, Mary decides to keep it to herself. And indeed, when the pastor finds out that Mary’s pregnant, he tries to get Mary’s mom to send her away. While Dean’s in Mercy House, he gets a boyfriend, and (sadly, offscreen) stages a mutiny, hijacks a church van, and then crashes the prom with his new boyfreind and posse of Christian outcast teens, where we learn the very special message of the movie:

It’s not subtle, but neither are ex-gay camps, and besides, it's aimed at thirteen-year-olds. What I really like about Saved! is how compassionate it is. Even Bible-throwing Hillary Faye gets some redemption in the end, and Mary isn’t villainized for trying to de-gay Dean, because she did it out of genuine, if ignorant, love and concern. There’s also a great moment where Mary, after accepting Dean’s homosexuality, refers to his (seventeen-year-old) boyfriend as his life-partner. It’s a movie about imperfect people trying to be more Christlike and taking unexpected turns along the way.