Virtually all the negative comments about this movie come from those who have built up some sort of resentment towards Christianity. There is a parable in the New Testament, about a man being beaten and robbed and left for dead. Many pass him by, but one stops and renders aid. Who is your neighbor? Everyone is your neighbor. What is the meaning of a life well-lived? It is giving back more to humanity than you receive.
This movie is about all that. It is about a young man who kills himself because he doesn't feel he belongs. All his classmates help make it easy, they mock him for the color of his skin and his handicap. a damaged leg he earned while saving someone else from injury.
Randy Wayne, who was 27, plays California high school basketball star, Jake Taylor, who has always dreamed of going to Louisville on a basketball scholarship. Deja Kreutzberg, who was 26, plays his girlfriend, Amy Briggs, who has also gotten herself accepted at Louisville so they can be together.
The dramatic event in the movie that gets everything else going is when the young man goes to school with a gun and kills himself in the hallway, among his fellow students. Jake feels guilty, he was the boy's best friend until Freshman year, and if he had reached out to him instead of avoiding, maybe he could have saved his life. As the movie comes to its conclusion, Jake gets another chance, with another boy, and this time does the right thing, and does save his life.
Joshua Weigel is good as the youth minister, Chris Vaughn. The movie is not naive, it does not paint everything with one broad stroke, if you are a Christian all will be well. There is lying and cheating. There is a teen pregnancy. But the movie handles all that and more in a very respectful way, and it has a great overall message ... care for your neighbor, even if it feels uncomfortable, because it is the right thing to do.
This movie is about all that. It is about a young man who kills himself because he doesn't feel he belongs. All his classmates help make it easy, they mock him for the color of his skin and his handicap. a damaged leg he earned while saving someone else from injury.
Randy Wayne, who was 27, plays California high school basketball star, Jake Taylor, who has always dreamed of going to Louisville on a basketball scholarship. Deja Kreutzberg, who was 26, plays his girlfriend, Amy Briggs, who has also gotten herself accepted at Louisville so they can be together.
The dramatic event in the movie that gets everything else going is when the young man goes to school with a gun and kills himself in the hallway, among his fellow students. Jake feels guilty, he was the boy's best friend until Freshman year, and if he had reached out to him instead of avoiding, maybe he could have saved his life. As the movie comes to its conclusion, Jake gets another chance, with another boy, and this time does the right thing, and does save his life.
Joshua Weigel is good as the youth minister, Chris Vaughn. The movie is not naive, it does not paint everything with one broad stroke, if you are a Christian all will be well. There is lying and cheating. There is a teen pregnancy. But the movie handles all that and more in a very respectful way, and it has a great overall message ... care for your neighbor, even if it feels uncomfortable, because it is the right thing to do.