You know you’re going to an unusual movie when you’re sitting in a fairly full theater and not a single person has food. No munching on popcorn, no slurping sodas. My own cupholder held kleenex. I’d been forewarned that I’d need them.
Last night, my friends and I went to see Unplanned. I wanted to briefly share my experience with you.
I struggled with the decision on whether or not to go. I am pro-life. Some of my earliest memories are of sitting in the lobby of our local Pregnancy Resource Center (then called Crisis Pregnancy Center) putting stickers on notebook pages, looking at the brochures with pictures of tiny, perfectly formed babies on the front. My mom’s coat lapel always had her tiny-feet pin attached. At all times the reminder of this oft-forgotten segment of life. I have wonderful memories of my mom’s involvement–her gentle, kind, caring ways as she interacted with women in crisis.
So why was I hesitant to see the movie? Only because I wasn’t sure the spirit in which it’d be presented. I’ve become convinced that God’s kingdom isn’t accomplished through anger. The Kingdom doesn’t come through arguments on Facebook, and I want to avoid anything that incites anger in me toward others. I know where I stand on this issue, so I didn’t necessarily need a movie to convince me of something I already knew.
But. I also know that my own heart drifts into indifference with alarming frequency. I need to consistently put in front of my face the reality of this world and ask God to please, again, break my heart for the things that break His. I could honestly see both sides–so I wasn’t sure.
I prayed over it for a couple days, then when I really needed to make a decision I went for a prayer walk and asked God. I’m not saying, “Thus saith the Lord,” but what came to mind was Harriet Beecher Stowe and Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
As you probably know, Stowe was a faithful follower of Jesus. Her heart was broken over the reality of slavery and the horrific mistreatment of African-Americans in America in the mid 1800s. She was a writer, a novelist, so she figured the way she could help was by writing a story–a novel that told the truth about the situation at hand.
Little did she know that her little book would change the course of history. In just the first three months after publication it sold 300,000 copies (that’d be like 3 million today!). They couldn’t print copies fast enough.
Abraham Lincoln famously said to her, speaking of the Civil War,
“So you’re the little lady who made this big war.”
I read Uncle Tom’s Cabin several years ago and it completely wrecked me. There were times I felt so convicted I had to put the book down and wait a few days to continue. It made me squirm, weep, repent, and pray. It inspired me and gave me a glimpse into the reality of the slavery-era like nothing I’d read before.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin was so effective because it re-humanized a population that had been dehumanized. That can’t be done by facts and figures, or by arguments over Bible verses. It took art, it took the telling of a story, to radically re-paint African-Americans as what they actually are–precious people made in the image of God. And, it promoted HOPE, forgiveness, the gospel of Jesus Christ, of sacrificial love.
Stowe also shows masterful brilliance in portraying the complexities at work. The lines between good and bad are squiggly and often blurry. She refused to paint all slave-holders as evil and all abolitionists as saints. She lets her readers sit with a great deal of ambiguity and discomfort and conviction. I cannot recommend this novel highly enough.
So this came to mind when I considered seeing Unplanned.
Plus, I read scores of reviews that convinced me the move was done in a spirit of love and humility, with a spirit of redemption and HOPE. Hope is the key word. I could get behind that.
I’m SO GLAD WE WENT. I cannot recommend it highly enough. I will say, I wouldn’t take my kids. Not because of anything inappropriate, but simply because it’s true and the level of intensity is beyond anything I’ve experienced in a movie theater.
I’d simply say: Please go. See for yourself. Yes, it is hard to watch, but it re–humanizes a segment of our population that’s been dehumanized. It helps us understand the real struggle, it fills us with COMPASSION for those women who are faced with this heart-wrenching decision. It condemns the violence and hatred that have surrounded some pro-life movements. It exalts redemption, hope, forgiveness, love. It will re-inspire you to PRAY.
Hopefully I’ll have a chance to share more reflections on the movie, but for now, I invite you to go. It’s only showing now through Thursday night. Thanks so much for considering.