As the credits roll at the end of October Baby, actress Shari Rigby, who plays Hannah’s birth mother in the film, gives a moving testimony to the abortion she undertook as a young woman, and the Divine mercy she has experienced since. Such a testimony deserves to move the hearts of many. But testimony is not the craft of cinematic storytelling, and it is to a story that the makers of October Baby invited us. As long as Christian filmmakers fail to learn the basic principles of that craft, then their messages, however truthful and urgent they may be, will fail to be heard by those–like the thousands if not millions going to see The Hunger Games this weekend–who need to hear them most.
March 23, 2012
