In recent years, the faith-based production company Pure Flix has softened from the fire-and-brimstone fundamentalism of God’s Not Dead and its successors to duller, more mild-mannered fare (including, recently, a barely noticed version of Little Women). Mike Lindell is here to bring things back to noxious basics. The anti-abortion Christian drama Unplanned is the first of three films being (partially or wholly) financed by the Trump-supporting entrepreneur and MyPillow founder. It climaxes with a Planned Parenthood office having its sign torn down; Lindell is in the bulldozer’s seat. “I’ve been waiting for this my whole life,” he says, grinning in a hard hat with the American flag on it—mirroring the TV ads for his product, where Lindell wears a crucifix, and the “call now” screen has an American flag with “Made in the U.S.A.” written underneath.
Unplanned writer-directors Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon wrote the first two God’s Not Dead movies and are therefore old hands at integrating related talking points into an already dogmatic central agenda. The Trumpian undercurrents here include not just Lindell but also a reminder that one of Planned Parenthood’s primary supporters is, yes, George Soros. (Soros!) Closely following the self-presented, factually unverifiable, and heavily questioned narrative of PP employee-turned-pro-life-supporter Abby Johnson (primarily as recounted in her memoir of the same name), Unplanned’s story is about a mostly devout young woman who had two abortions herself but primarily chose to join the organization to help lower their number via the dissemination of birth control.
Little did Abby (Ashley Bratcher) realize she was working for an abortion-for-profit enterprise. Perhaps she should have picked up on it when first meeting her boss, Cheryl (Robia Scott, vaguely aspiring towards Demi Moore), whose rudeness is a dead giveaway that she just wants to harvest fetuses. Even before that, Abby might have listened to the same nagging voice that told her to avoid telling her mother (Robin De Marco) about her job. (As Abby’s voiceover says, “Never trust a decision you don’t want your mom to know about.” Really terrible advice, that.) Cheryl—who shows Abby aborted fetuses as if revealing the lost Ark, an evil grin fixed on her face—lets the mask drop completely during a climactic scene. “Fast food outlets look to break even on the hamburgers they sell,” she hisses. They make money on fries and soda, “the low-cost, high-margin items. Abortion is our fries and soda. Abortion is what pays your salary.”
Besides pantomime-villainy characterization, Unplanned has several other modes of attack. One is good ol’ fashioned scare tactics. There are shots of blood pooling in the socks of abortion recipients post-op; an overhead view of Abby after her second (RU-486 induced) abortion, sprawled out in a bathroom covered in streaks of gore, as if she were the final-girl survivor in a slasher movie; and an actual abortion sequence. It’s the last of these that was the inciting incident for Johnson’s conversion. (Allegedly—her story doesn’t match the records.) She’d never been in the operating room before during surgery, but watching the ultrasound of a fetus kicking to not get sucked out of the womb freaked her out. For this image, Unplanned received an R rating, which seems overly harsh for a cartoonish sequence in which the rendering has the fetus’ hands grasping for dear life onto the uterine walls. The overegging undermines whatever horrific effect this conversion moment is supposed to have.
Unplanned’s third angle of attack is to trot out a number of pro-life talking points, none of which are new—this is more like an anthology of loathsome and/or disingenuous tropes than a fresh batch. Typical example: A protester outside Abby’s facility aligns the crusade against abortion with slavery, the Holocaust, and the Civil Rights movement as examples of what happens when a whole group is denied its humanity. That’s a lot, obviously, but it’s certainly not new: To dilate on the middle point, the Holocaust has been invoked as a reference point since 1970. Some pro-lifers have taken that point very seriously, like the two young men who bombed a Pensacola abortion clinic on Christmas Day, 1984, as “a gift to Jesus on his birthday.” Their attorney’s defense was that “if they had sabotaged concentration camps, they would be heroes.”
If Unplanned has a point beyond preaching to the converted, it’s to whitewash and separate “responsible” members of the pro-life movement from its outliers. Johnson’s thesis is that not all abortion providers are evil people and should not be vilified as such—they’re merely wrong, and what’s needed is the peaceful but permanent banning of abortion. Furthermore, who could object to a group of people quietly and respectfully praying outside a clinic? They’re not the ones screaming and frothing at the mouth, a few bad apples, etc. Unplanned reaches its disingenuous nadir when a representative from 40 Days For Life explains that they’re videotaping their exchanges just in case someone wrongly accuses them of violence—they have to have the cars, and their license plates, in frame just for the record. What this explanation covers for is a long history of license plate numbers being recorded and used to locate mailing addresses, with women subsequently receiving letters from the protesters.
There’s lots more to object to in Unplanned. A subplot reinforces the importance of submission to one’s husband via its portrait of Abby’s patient, perfect spouse, Doug (Brooks Ryan), who’s always wiser than his wife, down to realizing she’s pregnant before she does. (Takeaway: Men know women’s bodies better than they do.) All speaking parts are for white people, with the exception of two black women who come to get abortions, one with her family praying and weeping for her outside the fence—a dog whistle for the folks who believe legalized abortion is just pursuing Margaret Sanger’s goal of using birth control as a way to euthanize African-Americans. Insofar as there is a formal level to this slab of CBN after-school propaganda, Unplanned has greater technical finesse than its foundational forebears. The performances don’t seem like those delivered by actors confused by dialogue read from teleprompters, and the shot choices are logical rather than insanely clunky. But there’s not a single scene that speaks to characters with lives outside their streamlined narrative function; they’re performers in a parable traced over a Chick tract, filmed with a bland competence at odds with the true perversity of the material. Old-school Pure Flix: Welcome back!
270 Comments
This movie’s not a movie about being good, artistically. It’s a message movie about the greatest human rights violation of our time, perhaps of all time.And if you don’t give a shit about those babies, then that’s fine, but you’re Evil. Just evil people, to not give a shit about wriggling babies trying to escape domination and torture. You fucking bitch.
Don’t claim Compassion
Think about it this way, if you guys laughed at Slavery, if you called a Message movie about slavery propaganda, you would be run out of here with sticks.Why no love for Babies? Seriously. Not even allowing us to raise the question? You guys are Sick.
I’d love to see a Faith based distopian film showing what Christians believe the world will look like if liberals take the reigns of power. Abortion doctors chasing toddlers trying to flee the clinic!Death panels summarily executing the ill with Kalashnikovs!All marriages overseen by gay transgender pagans!It’d be insane.
Pretty sure Dinesh D’Souza has made that movie a couple times already.
“the true perversity of the material”Ah yes. If you’re against the dismemberment of human beings, you’re perverse now. Is that you, Saul Alinsky?
You are being arrested for not being gay and vegan! Your children will be sacrificed and fed to undocumented immigrants and all your assets will be used to supply drugs for the unemployed. Upon incarceration you will be branded with an inverted cross and rainbow flag.
If you’re white your forced into menial hard-labor jobs, and if you’re white AND christian you’re not allowed to have a job and are forced to live on…WELFARE!!! [screams in horror]
You seem to have something wrong, welfare is what other people get, when it comes to white Christians, it’s just God’s will for you to have plenty.
No, the liberals want to *take away* the menial hard labor jobs!
So- the US turns into Alabama, then?
Sounds beautiful-
The more anti-transgender rhetoric I am exposed to the more I wish I wasn’t cis.
REVEL IN THE ANNIHILATION OF MAN AS THE IMAGE OF GOD 🤘🏻⚡
GUITAR SOLO!!!!!!
Just try not to read that in Nathan Explosion’s voice.
I can’t read this without the voice in my head defaulting to cookie monster vocals.
Um, what part of that doesn’t sound AWESOME, Laura?
They’re onto us! Cheese it!
Wow, I have high hopes for our trans friends, but I feel like putting this kind of pressure for success on them is a bit much. I think we can all contribute to our transhumanist future by destroying gender norms and working on machine-human interfaces.
I actually wonder if the whole human robot hybrid thing came from her Googling the wrong thing and looked up the theory of transhumanity.
I mean, they specifically mention transhumanists, so…
Although that’s amusing on another level — one of the big promoters of transhumanism is Peter Thiel, the tech billionaire known for being one of the few tech leaders to support Trump. Infighting among the right!
Yeah but he might be one of those rich people that support Trump becasue the one thing they they know he is really for is helping the rich get richer.
Well, it’s not like dopes of this ilk have an insanely long history of misunderstanding things and building horrible ideas around them……
Well, I am, but that has nothing to do with me being trans.
Laura forgot to mention that this new species will also be ALL COP.
Glad I’m not the only one who immediately thought of RoboCop
“They’re Trans. They can form sold shapes…knives, and stabbing weapons.”
Everytime one of my badly damaged knees cry out in pain, I ask “when will I get to be a cyborg?”
I think you mean bionic american…… Send for the Mexican Children….I mean Latinx….NO THE GUNS ARE HEAVY AND MY GROIN SENSITIVE TO WACKS!!!I look forward to liberal America.
No wait, uh, I mean descendants of persons who originated in regions south of the Rio Grande, but who in fact by right ought to have the American Southwest, which was robbed from them by the hated James Pol-OW MY GROIN!
I’m afraid in liberal America, the death councils take a pretty dim view to any joint injuries. But no need to worry yourself, the liquidation squad will come to you.
Wait, denying trans people’s rights is the only thing keeping me from getting a cyborg arm? What the fuck, America?
If trans would finally get me the cybernetics I so desire then sign me the fuck up!
But I already saw the Six Million Dollar Man. He had a Bionic Woman.(Bigfoot was his true love)
You forgot Max the Bionic Dog with chainsaw paws….
… And all cop?!?!
Has someone just asked her to estimate the size of her brain?
They already did. It’s called The Hunger Games.
Do i have a comic book for you. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicBook/LiberalityForAllYes, that’s Sean Hannity with a cyborg arm.
I’m trying to come up with one and all I can think of is whatever prequel exists for the Handmaid’s Tale.
For a previous generation, it was this film:
In liberal America, straight prospective grooms have to blow another dude before they can get married to be sure they don’t like cock.Women must have three abortions for every child they’re allowed to bring to term.All guns are confiscated and given to illegal Mexican children, who are legally required to use them to whack any white person they see in the groin.Praying to a Christian God is punishable by death, even if you’re only doing it mentally (we’ll know). Praying to Allah is required twenty times a day, and must be done publicly and vocally. If you’re not loud enough, they send for the Mexican children.Every woman must wear a pants suit and a Hillary Clinton mask when she goes out in public.And, of course, all money is burned, all real estate become property of the state, and everyone is forced to work on communal farms from sun up to sundown, except for the welfare queens, who may sit in folding chairs sipping long island ice teas, whipping you as you hoe.
Also every citizen will be required to have the most up-to-date lexicon of politically correct pronouns, and will be subject to random searches to ensure they are in full compliance. And if they are not…Mexican children.
can ‘and if not…. the mexican children’ be a new thing?
If you vote Democrat it can!
I think you mean Latinx children, Citizen. I am sending for them now to administer your “corrections” 🙂
I like para three a lot.
Funny post overall, but having Hillary as the ultimate conservative nightmare is so 1992-2016.
Tell that to the people still chanting “Lock her up!” at Trump rallies.
You people are scum. We don’t have to believe (and I’m not a Christian), they lit buildings pink to celebrate babies at nine months having no legal protection from being physically ripped apart in the Womb.
You people, you scum, are supporting babies being murdered and you take the moral high ground and call it “religious.”You people are evil. This is Slavery, don’t you get that. This is Slavery for the next Generation. Dehumanizing babies.You don’t care. But Laugh.
And yet you would be horrified if that happened to an Abortion doctor, right?
“Don’t treat black people like they have to Follow the Rules at Starbucks, but you NOT EVER better EVER treat me like I ever have to give a shit about a baby before it’s born, ever.”
You people are Monsters
Top article: This is just a few of the Issues.Today, not just Tomorrow or in a week from now. Today, that Democrats are doing, and pushing. https://anopenletterto2.tumblr.com
So you can disagree with all that, but for you guys to sit here after you have insulted half the country for two years and dragged our country down the Tubes of late-term abortion (while cheering about it, love you, guys) and the Horrible things you have done to Free Speech and public discourse while trying to destroy Capitalism, the only Moral system, you guys are evil.And then you claim the moral high ground because you hate the president so much that you make things up about him and invent new meanings or just totally plaster over everything he says for years?
Seriously, you guys are Evil. And you’re just going to give me some Glib response at all if you ever even respond.
There are millions and millions of liberal Christians, dude. Don’t be so one dimensional.
And a few million liberal Christians against 2 billion conservative ones would make for a great fight.
I think there’s some films from the 70’s. The scene from a Ron Ormond’s If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?. Ormond was the director of exploitation films like The Monster and the Stripper, The Girl from Tobacco Road, and Untamed Mistress. In the late 60’s he survived a plane crash, decided it was time to get right with God, and started making films with some Southern Baptist preacher who was terrified of Communism.
Jack Chick did at least one dystopian comic. I’m going to post the link because the whole thing is hilarious. What’s interesting is this is a revised edition. Notice the Mother Earth talk that seems to be a dig about climate change? The original comic from the 70’s actually preaches that polluting our planet is bad. He also had to up the ante on some things. Originally the kid was the only kid in schools whose parents are still married, now they’re the only ones who are still married and straight.
https://www.chick.com/products/tract?stk=94
There’s this book I really wish I could find again — I think it was by John Hagee, and it’s mostly the kind of insane rants that come out of him on a daily basis, but the opening chapter is a dystopian narrative called “IT COULD HAPPEN.”Among the events I can recall: all Christians are declared insane and banished to mental institutions, critics are praising this new Broadway play that has live acts of bestiality, and — horror of all horrors — children are seen in school pledging allegiance….TO THE UN!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!I really need to find that book again.
People just munching on fetus’ all the time
Futurama!
mmmm Soylent Green YummY.
From your lips to the God botherers’ ears.I would watch the hell out of that movie!
According to reliable memes, it’s a drag queen and a Muslim woman peacefully coexisting on public transit.
Personally I’d like to see a film where the heroes are do-unto-others type Christians who believe in evolution and oppose bigotry and discrimination, and the bad guys practice their fundamentalism consistently by murdering anyone who tramples down grass, expresses affection for someone else, seeks medical help, or likes anything other than religion. Another good idea for a film? A religious person who comes to humanism gradually by being exposed to circumstances that prove one by one that all the 10 commandments are interfering bullshit (except #7). Bonus points if it turns out God is manipulating the circumstances to help them stop being fundamentalist, and double points if God then vanishes in a puff of logic.
I’d like to see a movie about a Serial Killer who is just following the Biblical Laws. Or a Dystopian Future that shows the Utopia that is a Fundie Christian Paradise.
I hope you realize there is a massive difference between a liberal and a progressive. A progressive would desire many of these outcomes:
1) abortion doctors please see Hermit Gosnell most prolific serial killer in America. (you will not find much about him in mainstream news cause its a touchy topic)
2) Death Panels: Please see Charlie Grad whose parents sought treatment in America (fully funded by fundraising) for rare genetic disorder and UK/EU said no we know better Charlie must “die with dignity’ b.c govt telling people when to die is so liberal.
3) In several places in Canada the act of not “accepting your child’s transgenderism” has been met with threats to seize the children. Even though puberty blockers can leave your child sterile and sex reassignment can do the same thing (and most transgenderism is based on unethical John Money experiments). In UK police are “checking the thinking” of people that “misgender” persons.
But go ahead lionize and remove nuance, its what a tyrant would do.
2 Timothy 3 King James Version (KJV)3 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.9 But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as their’s also was.
Sorry but the only TRUE word of god I accept is that written in ancient Aramaic or Hebrew. The King James version is merely a human corruption, a bowdlerized text created by kings and committees. You are a dupe of the British Monarchy!
https://politics.theonion.com/obama-help-us-destroy-jesus-and-start-a-new-age-of-lib-1819573867
The liberals have already taken control, that’s why the world is completely fucked up.
Furthering the irresponsible Holocaust comparisons, I see they’ve made the interesting choice to replicate the Magneto-in-Auschwitz scene from X-Men.
Does her shirt say dope?
I’m pretty sure the t-shirt maker just misspelled “soap”
Maybe she really likes their cover from American Psycho?
No, no. She’s a big fan of the BOPE Brazilian death squads.
Look at the fine stitching!
rope.it is racist!
Nah, definitely says Mope. She’s still in her emo phase.
Yes, but look at the fine stitching on “dope”
Nope
Nope.
Nope
Nope
I think the t-shirt say’s hope not dope or soap.
Pope. They couldn’t afford real vestiments and they want to call the Catholics girly.
Are they…praying over barrels of aborted fetuses? Which the Planned Parenthood keeps stacked in barrels next to its fence, you know, the way all Planned Parenthoods do?
I see no modifiers that would cease to apply were the barrel full of human fetuses.
Only 3 left? Teti’s been stocking up!
Best guess, he’s praying for them to be miraculously transformed into wine.
Which is very unrealistic. That aborted fetus slurry is worth to much to let it just sit outside. It’s kept in the well protected basement where it can be used to fill the bath house before the Satanic orgies. Its like these guys didn’t do any research at all!
If they just leave it out there, Tyler Durden’s going to hop the fence later that night and make soap out of it!
George Soros likes a good ferment on his aborted fetus wine.
“Do you know what happens to a fetus that’s struck by lightning?”“I…what? What in the hell are you talking abou-”“IT’S STILL NOT AS BAD AS AN ABORTION!”
For some reason her outfit really bothers me. It’s like they wanted to dress her in a crop-top but without any of that sinful skin so they just had her wear another shirt under it.
Belly buttons make the baby jesus cry
That is EXACTLY what they did. I’ve seen the look on many a “hip” younger Christian woman around my town.
Is he magnetized to aborted fetuses? Like, could he manipulate byproducts of stem cell research to attack evil atheistic corporations?
He looks vaguely like Dustin Diamond when he inevitably mutates into his worst transformation of awfulness: a born again Christian. .
*slow clap*
You’re right that comparisons to the Holocaust are lame.The Holocaust killed only 6 million human beings, while abortion has killed 1.5 billion worldwide since 1980 (see http://www.numberofabortions.com ).
This is the best film headline the AV Club’s ever had.
Seeing Vadim track conservative cinema of this type from movie to movie is one of the more consistent pleasures of today’s film criticism.
“As Abby’s voiceover says, “Never trust a decision you don’t want your mom to know about.””
I live my life by the a similar saying: “Always tell your mother about every decision you make she doesn’t want to know about.”
I’ve followed Abby’s advice, and let me tell you, it’s made it very difficult to plan a surprise party for her.
I like how it would be easy to take this to a really raunchy and/or dark place and you went the wholesome route. You deserve a pumpkin sticker.
What kinda of boring ass life do you plan to live if you only do things you want your parents to know you did. I mean I’ve done shit I want no one to know I did, that is part of life.
I saw that and thought yeah, because your parents should be your guide for the rest of your life. Never make an adult decision unless you know your parents would be 100% on board.
“Hey Mum, I made the decision to switch the brand of lube I use when I strap on a dildo and peg Gus each Saturday night, but now I’m starting to doubt myself. What do you think?”
This makes me feel weird about the time I made a dramatic reading of the over the top MyPillow story from that guy’s website. Though the tale of all consuming pillow obsession is still pretty hilarious.
“a cartoonish sequence in which the rendering has the fetus’ hands grasping for dear life onto the uterine walls”GET THE FUCK OUT! This is a real thing that happens in this movie?! Oh wow I’ve heard it all now
At the same time, it’s good to see that the Star Child from 2001: A Space Odyssey is still getting work.
It’s been tough but now with Jesus as my agent, I get work all the time from these so-called Christians who are only pro-birth but once born, it’s “get off my lawn” or “keep your damn legs crossed Jezebel”!
Interestingly, Kevin Spacey originally signed on to play the fetus. Christopher Plummer refused to take his place, which is why the fetus’ performance was so poor.
well this is perfect. comments closed!
You will feel aborted upon finishing this film!
“(Soros!)“I think you mean (((Soros!)))…
(Soros!!!(?)!)
Soros! The Hands of Fate!
F-rated Movie Reviews from AV Club always make my day.
This one seems more F-arted, if you know what I mean.
Two things, etc.
[F-ARTS]
So does the title. That headline is just a perfect gauntlet for dreck-addicts like myself. I am all in on Unplanned. Thanks, y’all!
Previous F-rated abortion classic October Baby has one of the greatest and sickest comment sections this place has ever been graced with: https://film.avclub.com/october-baby-1798172065
Anyone who buys a ticket for this should be sterilized.
I get satire, but something tells me you really mean it. Wow, tolerance!
What if it’s just so one can attend to mock and ridicule the “real” viewers?
If you need to pay $15 and spend 2 hours of your life ironically watching a movie so you can feel better than the stupidest people on the planet than you too shouldn’t have children.
Jesus, it was a joke. Lighten up. This movie is a joke and so are the people who wish to see it. And thanks for reminding me why I have no desire to procreate. There’s no need to add to the current scourge.
I was wondering what an F-rating would look like on AV Club.This..sickens me. The existence of this thing. The fearmongering used to drive productions like this bothers me to no end.
Person A on film: Do you ever think we could tell this story without lying about basically everything?Person B on film: Nope.
Except they 100% believe this crap. They don’t think they’re lying. Or at best they think it’s just a slight exaggeration. You know, for storytelling or something.I should mention that I’ve found a good way to deal with relatives stupid comments they say about various political topics, at least in my family, is to start laughing. Don’t get offended, they kind of expect that. Laugh. Then, “Wait, you really think that? Naw, that’s not true. Let me show you some verifiable and real evidence.”
These people’s movies are pretty much everything that’s wrong with America.
It’s a start, anyway.
Actually, you and every other brain dead amoral libtard POS on this message board are what’s wrong with this country.
I had to Google to see if this was different than that other anti abortion movie that’s being made that has Jon Voight. Answer: yes, they are different. That one is called Roe v Wade. I look forward to its review.
Given the persistent talking points that abortion is racist, abortion has killed generations of black babies, and so on, Planned Parenthood loves eugenics, and so on, I wonder if this type of movie is ever going to try to showcase black actors and storylines (what else is Stacey Dash doing now anyway?). I guess the racism of their ticketbuyers trumps (no pun intended) all.
Starring in the next anti Abortion movie called Rowe v Wade that will come out later this year.
Black people scare white baby Jesus
I come from the future!https://film.avclub.com/drab-pro-life-propaganda-roe-v-wade-lacks-the-wingnut-1846504167
Wow. Thanks. I guess she got that one in right before she retired from this genre of grift.
I wanna do edibles and see the fuck out of this movie
My anti-choice religious parents are psyched about this movie. The trailer “moved” them and they are seeing it today. I have the misfortune of having previously planned a dinner with them for tomorrow, so I’ll get to hear about the “atrocities of Planned Parenthood” and other flat out lies this shit is peddling for most of the evening. Anyway, fuck this movie.
The obvious solution to your dilemma is to go out and buy a Planned Parenthood shirt and wear it to dinner.
That would be a bold move. As of right now my solution is alcohol. Lots of alcohol.
Poured over your parents who you then set on fire, I assume.Oh, you’re going to drink it? Yeah, that works too, I guess.
evellina – why don’t you consider to go see the movie with them so you know a bit more about it instead of panning and critiquing a movie you haven’t seen?
Lol no
I don’t have to look in a toilet to know there’s a turd in there.
106 minutes later…“Yeah, that sucked.”
Sometimes bold is best. I have rocked variation on the “Recovering Catholic” shirt at family events for years. My idiot, ultra religious brother doesn’t understand what it means. To this day he insists that I am still Catholic because I did all that CCD shit despite the fact that I say I am not a Catholic, do not attend church and in general say “fuck off” to religion. Considering he is divorced I am not sure he is still officially a Catholic.
I’m kinda afraid to ask my mom about her opinions on abortion. She’s very liberal, but also very Catholic and has some off opinions occasionally.
Yea my parents are very outspoken anti-choicers so I grew up knowing their opinion, and thankfully changed mine. I’m an only child and we’re otherwise close, so I just try to avoid any and all talk of it. I think they’re under the impression that I’m also anti-choice, and I’m not sure telling them otherwise will help (so maybe they’ll avoid the topic) or harm, which is more likely. I’m very close to my dad who is extremely liberal in literally every other regard, so I’ve mostly been disappointed in him. Its like they get more conservative and religious with age 🙁
I got siblings like that. I worried it would happen to me but I think as I get older I get more progressive and liberal honestly.
Honestly its worth a chat. My mom recently confided in my wife and I that she no longer considers herself Catholic and has not since my sister passed away(even a bit before that). She got tired of the hypocrisy and the scandals and her faith gave her no comfort in the time she needed it the most. Apparently the last straw was when my sister was dying in a Catholic hospital she had wanted to go attend mass at the chapel(she didn’t want to be far from her but wanted the comfort that faith provides in these times) only to find out that because this hospital had performed a medical necessary abortion a few years back that the archdiocese forbid any priests from going there.
I remember reading about a kid in a Catholic diocese years ago who was fighting with the church to get communion wafers without some allergen in it that would kill him. The family even offered to buy the box so he could take Holy Communion. The diocese fought them over it even though other dioceses had done it before. I remember people going back and forth on it and my opinion was just, “Maybe they should find a place that cares more about not killing this kid instead of appeasing some imaginary rule.”
Maybe you should ask them why they bothered to have you…?
My mom’s favorite movie of last year was Dinesh DSouza’s Death of a Nation, so I feel you. She texted me for weeks after, saying “every American needs to see this movie.”
You could print out the linked article:https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/the-convert/This woman and her story are sketchy, and it is worth the read just to toss out asides like, “oh, was the woman who had the abortion was white? b/c Abby said she was black. Huh, maybe not so accurate after all.”
You need to pick better parents.
I can’t wait to see the third film in the series, where the pro-life community comes together to support the estranged teen at her most vulnerable and time of need, trying to support her child and finish school.
Based on the veracity of this film, that’s exactly how the sequel would go.
So, they’ll be transitioning over to fiction on the last one?
I’d say they transitioned to fiction as soon as they rolled on the first one.
Whay are you talking about there is Pregnancy centers all over America that give young scared low income women free ultrasounds and other support they need. How do I know, I volunteer at my local Crisis Pregnancy center! Please be informed before you comment.
“Oh don’t worry about that $50,000 medical bill for your prenatal care. We Christians have to stick together” – Said the wise country doctor who is gonna care for her in this bizarro fantasy world where he isn’t a desperate practitioner just out of med school with tons of student loans, tied to a medical group that is dictating his pricing and taking a huge cut
There is such thing as Medicaid hun if you are low income.
Medicaid huh? Sounds like some sort of socialist program to me
If anyone is looking to make such a film (which I’m confident wasn’t your intent as your comment was sarcastic) I know of the perfect organization, one linked to 40 Days for Life. It has a lot of Gonzaga support here 😉 with Gonzaga Students for Life. The organization I’m talking about is a crisis pregnancy center who helped me when I was 16 and pregnant. I went on to graduate with honors when my son was 2 with them there to encourage me the whole time. The have a maternity home for homeless pregnant woman. TONS of resources for anyone who goes to their clinic including medical care with nurses and overseen by an amazing doctor (he delivered 2 of my 3 children). They even have support systems for parents after being seen at the clinic and a mens group to teach them to be better dads, boyfriends/husbands. A truly amazing place with amazing people who make a real difference every day!
For anyone who wasn’t actually seen a real abortion, I’d point out the first season of Glow has a very realistic depiction of a first trimester abortion.
Good for you. Talking some sense. Progressives and those with open minds are the radicals? I think not.
I feel real sympathy for you having to watch this crap. That’s really going above and beyond.
On another note, I would dearly love to see these guys do a Chick film using the materials from his anti-D&D brochures. I would laugh my ass off.
A movie based on Chick tracts would probably be the scariest horror film ever made.
Mazes and Monsters II?
If it helps, Riverdale apparently based a major Season 3 story arc on what Chick and his ilk thought of D&D, minus the outright Christian mythology stuff.
I love reading comments from people that clearly have not seen the movie. I find them so helpful. OR – here’s a thought (which is a derivative of the word “think” – which is clearly something that some of the commenters on this post struggle to accomplish): go and see the movie for yourself. Then make your comments. It’s a lot more convincing when you are critiquing some movie, if you have actually seen it! Again, though, just a thought^ 😉
Lol no
Fuck that.
Fun Fact: Because of massive consumer complaints and continual false advertising, My Pillow has an F rating from the Better Business Bureau.
Jeeesus fucking Christ. Nuke this shit from orbit
It’s the only way to be sure.
Just read all 3 negative reviews on RT (only 6 total reviews at this time), and not a single one actually attempted to actually review the movie. Instead they just exposed their tremendous bias. Truly unprofessional and unintelligent nonsense.
Edit: I guess looking at the comments below, this entire site is not somewhere to bother with if one is looking for intelligence.
Abortions are good.
Abortion is evil!
Kill yourself.
Can you read? Because Vadim did actually “review the movie.” Oh wait, you weren’t actually interested. You just wanted to bloviate about your propaganda movie being persecuted. Poor you.
Poor Kev reading the comments like –
If you want more in depth reviews, I think the God Awful Movies podcast has one coming out either this week or next.
Respectfully…what is the point of this review? Was the AV Club going to give it a B+, “Wow we’d never considered it that way, maybe we are pro-life!” Were AV Club readers going to go to see it, but wait, the reviewer said it’s not the cinematic masterpiece we expected so nevermind. What’s the point?
Entertainment.
It’s fun laugh at rubes.
Question: Why review this movie on The A.V. Club? 99% of your audience is not their target audience, and I’d argue a huge chunk of that is actively opposed to their target audience, so it’s not like you’re telling anyone reading this something they didn’t already know. And it’s not like anyone inclined to actually watch this thing would be convinced to do otherwise by a scathing review on a site like The A.V. Club. What’s more, given the whole “no such thing as bad publicity” thing, it’d follow that covering this at all only brings more attention to something with which it’s obvious this site is absolutely disgusted (rightly so, in my opinion, but still) and which you think people should be avoiding, in the first place.So…what? Is it just for the rageclicks? Or is it giving your readership something to be recreationally angry about? If it’s not that…then what’s the point?
So…what? Is it just for the rageclicks? Or is it giving your
readership something to be recreationally angry about? If it’s not
that…then what’s the point?
It’s today’s Two Minutes Hate.
Because they can get Vadim Rizov to write the review. Having someone with such a detailed understanding of this particular genre give his analysis is valuable to those of us who have no affinity to it. After all, these movies are big hits and connect to several political and societal movements and hence warrant some degree of study.
Mayyyybe…but what did we learn from this about evangelical propaganda surrounding abortion that we don’t already know? I mean, I guess if you never read a single thing about the abortion debate and the anti-choice movement’s point of view, sure, this could be enlightening. But, otherwise, it’s just beating the same horses, it seems to me.
Since I live in a liberal bubble it’s helpful for me to know that this content exists, that it’s actually watched by real live people, and what kind of content it actually contains so that when I meet these people I know a little bit more about what’s going on in their heads. I don’t read it with hate, exactly, more with curiosity.
Without the AV Club I likely wouldn’t know anything about movies like this. They’re part of pop culture, even if they’re a part of pop culture I’m not connected with. They’re doing their job by reviewing any content that broadens my horizons and helps me be a part of conversations about pop culture.
I don’t know that I’d define this as “pop culture.” Just because something is a piece of content doesn’t make it pop in the cultural sense. This film is targeted at a very specific audience and will make no hay beyond it other than incredulous, liberal-leaning outlets (and I’m not saying that in a derogatory way – I’m as pinko as they come) writing about how horrible it is. Think of it like white supremacist metal. We don’t see a lot of reviews of releases in that genre popping up in The A.V. Club’s music section. Why? Because it’s a) ethically abhorrent, and b) not of interest to The A.V. Club’s audience or to any audience beyond a narrowly targeted group, none of whom come to this site to learn to what they should be listening. This, to me, falls in that same pool.
How is it not a part of popular culture? Entertainment geared towards evangelical Christians is a billion dollar industry. It’s not as prominent as Marvel or Star Wars, but it’s still popular entertainment that caters to a large portion of the population.
Plus, speaking as someone who is not an evangelical Christian, there’s something weirdly fascinating and scary about the whole thing. It’s a weird mix of cringe inducing MST3K unintentional hilarity and abject horror that a lot of people actually believe this. See also: Bibleman; Chick Tracts.
Anti-abortion sentiment is vastly more mainstream and popular than white supremacy.
Yeah, not so sure at this point… Have you seen the modern Republican party?
Except that a bunch of organizations buy up blocks of tickets for these films, and they clearly represent the propaganda of the conservative movement. They need to be exposed as they are the fuel for the right-wing media, who are going to be selling this as truth. The link to the woman’s story alone is worth the review – this supposedly details a real person’s story, only she has pretty much misrepresented everything about her story. Her real conversion was from being on the brink of being fired to switching sides for the cash.
The ideas in this movie (PP makes money off fetal tissue, abortion is like slavery, women who get abortions are either promiscuous sluts or innocent victims goaded into the act by Soros-loving liberals) are espoused by a not-insignificant number of people with real decision-making power. You just need to look at Georgia to see them in action.It’s also being released on a big enough number of screens to qualify as a reviewable film, but most of all, yes, it’s important to be aware that shit like this exists and it’s being treated as real and authentic by way too many people.
Christ, shut the fuck up.
I don’t think you’re wrong to have concern over “bad publicity” lining the pockets of douchelords like Pure Flix, but that concern doesn’t mean we should ignore them and they’ll go away. Shining a spotlight & elucidating on the misinformation is valuable to the more impressionable, as well as those wanting to track how scumlords spread disinformation.
That’s fair, but my counter would be that there is a whole world of propaganda disguised as entertainment out there, across various forms of media, and yet The A.V. Club doesn’t tend to touch it. So, why this one? If shining a spotlight on misinformation is part of The A.V. Club’s mission, that’s cool. I can totally get with that. But it doesn’t seem to be, in general – as I mentioned elsewhere, here, I don’t see a ton of take-downs of white supremacy-championing records on this site. So, why this thing in particular?
I also couldn’t tell from the review if it was a bad film, or just a film that opposed the reviewer’s views.
Because we want to know if this is just boring crap or so over the tops silly and bad that it’s worth a hate watch. I mean “God’s not Dead” gets you a scene with Kevin Sorbo getting hit by a car that is sorta worth the price of watching it
I need to know if there’s any way that watching this movie can be turned into a drinking game. From the once over I’m going to take a drink anytime someone says “Soros”.
It’s good defense against normalization. Ignoring the obviously ridiculous because it’s obviously ridiculous can lead to a vacuum where said ridiculousness seems harmless because there’s no pushback. This is the pushback.
It’s funny because it’s sad.
Also, if I’m not mistaken, AVClub counts in aggregate scoring sites like Rotten Tomatoes and metacritic, so it’s possible they are (as other more left media should) giving the movie any kind of attention to add some balance to those scores, so they can’t brag about having 100% on RT, which it would if only the media in favor of the film review it.Or they just want to make sure people don’t see it without knowing what it is, which happened to me when I saw Human Centipede…
Personally I want to know if a fundie movie is worth watching for the kitsch, so these writeups are helpful! At worst the reviews themselves are usually entertaining, so that is reason enough for writing about something like this.
They’re the ones in power, and they’ve proven themselves to be capable of astonishingly amoral acts. We ignore their propaganda at our peril.
It’s fun to laugh at shit bags like the people made and are seeing this movie.
anyone reading this something they didn’t already know. I didn’t know that this movie existed, or what it was about, before reading this. Sometimes darkness needs to be exposed to the light for it to go away.
This crappy website hardly reviews TV shows anymore (RIP Family Guy), so they have to review something to justify their existence.
On the one hand, I’m not sure reviews of movies we all know are going to suck—budgets funded by bake sales and MyPillow, scripts that started out as Chick Tracts, actors whose previous experience consists of fundamentalist “hell houses”—are strictly necessary.On the other hand, they are hilarious, so keep ‘em coming.
I needed to come here for a palette cleanser after reading the comments from Variety’s review. Did you guys know reviews aren’t supposed to be bias (against Christians!)
slavery, the Holocaust, and the Civil Rights movement as examples of what happens when a whole group is denied its humanity. The way this is written makes it sound like the Civil Rights movement is an example of something that denied a whole group (of white southerners) its humanity, which I don’t think is the intention… but is definitely more accurate in terms of how most people who go see this movie probably think about it.
Robia Scott is in fact the former Robia La Morte, Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Jenny Calender. IIRC she went full fundie some years ago.
That’s a shame.
She was Diamond or Pearl, one of the Prince ladies back in the day … hmmm weird life.
You should go lower in your rating, make it G for GO FUCK YOURSELF EVERYONE INVOLVED IN THIS MOVIE….
It’s sad. Sad that Vadim Rizov writes such a scathing, stilted, partisan review. Sad that his readership high-fives each other while they pile on
and bash the evil pro-lifers, 3rd rate, low-budget religious filmmakers.
But sadder by light years is the fact that since my birth in 1973, 60
million lives have been snuffed out before they ever had a chance. I
challenge your readers to go and watch this film. Take time to ask why pro-lifers
care so much about their cause. Do you really think all of these people “hate women”. Don’t be afraid it’ll challenge your thinking. Go see the film. One more thing, Ashley
Bratcher, who plays the lead in this film, was right in her response today to Alysa Milano when she wrote: “Abortion is so 1973. Welcome to 2019, a time in which medical advances
preserve the life of babies born as early as 21 weeks. In case you
didn’t know, that’s three weeks earlier than what most states in the
U.S. consider “viable” in their abortion legislation.”
Lol
Eat shit, bible thumper. And know this. If Roe gets overturned, there are MILLIONS of us who will blatantly break the law to help get women the abortions they want/need. We will get them the medications, get them money, travel arrangements and places to stay. And there isn’t shit you can do about it. We’re done playing with you clowns. We’re going to start fucking you rubes up.
God isn’t real. You build your life around a shitty fantasy story.
You know what? I kinda want to go get an abortion just in spite of you. Unfortunately on that matter, I’m a guy.
Why should we have to pay to go see a shitty 2-hour movie? Can’t we just look up a pro-life website for free?
Kill your religion.
Abortions for none!Bibles and corny tee-shirts for all!
“Never trust a decision you don’t want your mom to know about.” Really terrible advice, that.I disagree. How else would she have found out about gently used sex toys?
Abortion is the murder of a living child. Only living things grow. When I preach outside the abortion factory I explain that concrete does not grow. The cars people drive up in do not grow. But babies in the womb grow. It’s common sense that any child can understand. God hates those who love violence (Psalm 5:5 & 11:5) but there is mercy for those who repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Eat shit, bible thumper.
I literally made an account just to say that Christ Follower is my hero and I hope doopy one makes some friends and finds meaning in life. I think the movie did a great job at showing the value of life and the impact each of our choices has in the world. It was not a flashy movie, but they did great with a small budget and it didn’t feel condemning or overly preachy (nobody went into it expecting no preaching).
Tumors grow. We abort them.
I can’t help but notice that all the people in the comment section were born alive
Just saw this. What struck me as most controversial is that, after the end credits, it zooms in on Ashley Bratcher sleeping soundly in her bed. She yawns, stretches, then says, “And now that abortion is cured forever, I can sleep soundly on my new MyPillow Giza Dreams sheets—with new MyPillow Premium, of course!” and then it shows Jesus himself giving a thumb’s up! Why, the whole film is a damn MyPillow ad!
Don’t believe this liberal writer who is obviously a biased man. This movie does show you the truth inside Planned Parenthood and how abortions occure and the Abortion done via Ultrasound is not cartoon based at all. It is completely real life looking for any women who has seen her baby move on an ultrasound screen! Poor teenage girl that suffers the abortion had her uterus perferated and almost bleeds to death in Planned Parenthood before they get the bleeding stopped and never tell her or her father the truth! Always hiding there lies and damage to women. See it!!! 5 stars
There should be a whole other Razzie ceremony created solely for these fucking Christian propaganda movies. There’s easily enough of this trash released each year to fill up every category.
I can’t wait for God Awful Movies to tear this turd a new one. In fact, Eli Bosnick has some tweets about it here;
“the true perversity of the material”Ah yes. If you’re against the dismemberment of human beings, you’re perverse now. Is that you, Saul Alinsky?
Tactic one: ‘scare tactics’ So abortion doesn’t kill, which can be bloody, a live? A baby that is growing inside the womb with 46 chromosomes (distinct from the mother). Its easy to look away from evil and pretend its not happening, but then again your going to claim I’ve used a religious argument when it is completely based on science. A life is a life no matter how small, no matter lack of limps, no matter lack of pain sensation (Congenital insensitivity to pain), or cognitive ability (down syndrome/ learning disabilities) or heart (pacemaker).
Abortion is the result of an decline in moral standards and lack of responsibility.
I am a former
pro-choice activist and former SJW for many issues that I personally felt I
knew were right(eous) causes and that I was a good person. I was saved by the
grace of God about 3 years ago when He spoke directly to me (I
heard a voice in my spirit and what it said it humbled me because it was truth, and also convicted me, but it wasn’t until
later that I realized what He had spoken to me was scripture, that I had no way
of knowing, and then I truly believed, and repented, but what’s more is I finally realized it
was Jesus/Yahusha). I don’t expect people to understand this truth, and this love. Scripture is very
clear on how the natural man is unable to understand, you must be born again.
You cannot come unless He draws you. If there is anyone here that hears, you
know who you are. Anyway, I don’t see any comments from people who have
experienced such a transformation, so this place appears to be an echo-chamber.
The comments and replies certainly testify to the truth and bring more glory to
Him. Watch Him work in the conscience (hearts) of mankind. This is for the one
who does have eyes to see and ears to hear, see the flaming darts, hear the
truth and the lies, come to Him, let Him give you a new spirit and a heart of flesh. Heaping burning coals on the heads of the
anti-Christ. Cue the vitriol from the hearts of stones and bitter root.
How many friends and family did you lose when you became an insufferable piece of shit?
No one is going to read this.Also, god is fake news.
That’s a touching experience and I think this movie made everyone a little happier to be alive and be able to bring positive change to the world. I hope you enjoyed the movie as much as I did! And I hope doobyOne makes friends one day.
This is actually a pretty good review, even though I’m a Christian pro-life Trump supporter. This is the fourth review I’ve read. I haven’t seen the movie and don’t plan to, but I still want to know about it. In highschool they showed us a video of a baby being pulled out by it’s feet, but leaving the head inside and stabbing it with scissors. That’s all I needed to see. I get that women get desperate and murder their babies, but it’s in poor taste to celebrate it. I thought that was what this review would be, but it wasnt; it was a well thought out review of a movie. Good job, I really enjoyed it.
I hope you die in a fire.
Why so hostile? We are just molecules in motion. Doing what we are programmed by evolution to do. Religion is actually evolution’s fault. And so is your anger. Really shouldn’t be blaming others for something your own worldview created…..
I’m hostile to bible-thumping cunts who refuse to mind their own business.
That doesn’t happen.
“the true perversity of the material”Ah yes. If you’re against the dismemberment of human beings, you’re perverse now. Is that you, Saul Alinsky?
Hey if you guys want even more to laugh at and mock head over to Apologia Church on YouTube. Leading church and voice in the Pro-Life movement. Oh and yes, they are Christian. I know you’ll absolutely love insulting some Christians in your spare time. Enjoy!
So the Mypillow guy is also the tiny-handed lawyer who molested Charlie Kelly on Always Sunny, right?
cartoonish sequence in which the rendering has the fetus’ hands grasping for dear life onto the uterine walls.thats the greatest thing ive ever read
It’s scary that RT has it at 50%. And the positive reviews all come from Catholic reviewers and/or mention “Hollywood pro-choice agenda”. It’s happening. Their point of view is slowly crawling to cultural relevance in media.Run?..
vaguely aspiring towards Demi MooreSo mediocre acting and gratuitous nude scenes?
Personally, I don’t understand why conservatives are so concerned with abortion. The majority of people getting abortions are the very low-drive, feminazi, mentally-ill, loathsome, psychopathic baby killers this movie derides. If it weren’t for abortion, we’d be up to our eyebrows in strippers and criminals, produced by man-hating, cat-lady, pink-hat-wearing, welfare-queen, single moms. Reading some of the posts here, the country would be a vastly better place if most of your mothers had made a different decision.
I saw the title without knowing anything else about this movie, and immediately hoped it wasn’t what it sounded like.
So I looked up a plot synopsis, and my heart immediately sank as I saw the title was indeed referring to unplanned pregnancies. It kept sinking as I read further, and any hope that this wasn’t a 2-hour attack ad against abortion slowly died.