Voiceless

source: Voiceless

I love that they are calling attention to the fact that some churches stay silent on the issue of abortion when the Bible clearly shows in stories that there is a real human being inside of a pregnant woman (Luke 2, for starters). The movie was made with a different storyline than what I've seen before and has an unexpected twist (which I enjoy), but if I'm being honest, I did not think it was well-made. It didn't move me and get me revved up to be more active in the pro-life movement (though, I already am), which I'm sure is the reaction that they would like their audience to have. So all in all- a good message, but not a great execution.

Like most Christian movies, this one is staggeringly clueless of how anything works in the real world. Unfortunately it goes a step beyond by suggesting that women's health clinics are pure evil and women shouldn't have access to essential, possibly lifesaving, services because some of the services they offer make the filmmakers sad. Everyone responsible for making this movie is actively trying to make the world a worse place for women and should be deeply ashamed of themselves...

This movie's "moral" basically amounts to... If someone doesn't share your beliefs and won't sacrifice their physical and financial well-being just to make you feel better, assault them!

I am gobsmacked that someone is so twisted thought that this was a good message to people, there is no way that they understand how health clinics work and that its already difficult enough for them to make a choice without feeling ostracized or scared for their life. Jesse is incredibly unstable and lies, judges and causes nothing but pain for others. What better way for a movie about pro choice and how a woman feels than to have it directed, produced and starring mainly men, and I guess the term Voiceless refers to having the women have little to no lines. I hate that I saw this movie, I hate that it exists and I hate the people behind it, never do this again!

Whether you are Christian or not, I don't care. What matters is what this film tries to teach the audience and where it falls flat. Just off the top of my head: 1) The clinic that our main character glares daggers at all the time is a clinic that offers abortions as a service. It is *not* a clinic that *only* offers abortions. The women there get contraceptives, pap smears, exams, and other checkups to guarantee their health. 2) The main character acts like something is up when he is not allowed to know personal CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION about the people who visit there. Sorry, but you're not a doctor, you're some random guy on the street. You do not have the privilege to know anything that's not your business, least of all because you are not a friend or family member. 3) The medical professional will not, can not, and would not perform abortions on unwilling women because it would mean they would be sued to kingdom come, not to mention that there are laws against performing surgery on people who have not given the OK. That abusive husband would have had the cops called on him immediately. If anything, the staff working there would have tried to stall him as long as possible while keeping the pregnant woman safe, perhaps into protective custody or a women's shelter while they dealt with the one-dimensional villain. 4) If abortions are not available to women, they will find more dangerous, back alley ways to do it. Women have been having abortions since forever and if it wasn't through a doctor it was drinking herbs or throwing themselves downstairs. Barring access to something as clean and safe as an abortion clinic for someone who is committed to aborting the fetus will only drive them to find other dangerous means to do it. As for people who claim it's "killing children", millions of children die all around the world from hunger and disease that are aggravated by severe poverty, famine, war, terrible orphanage systems, or abusive/neglectful parents. Lives that were statistically inevitable because of the people who birthed them, their country of origin, and the state of affairs in the region they were born. I say that it is only humane to prevent such suffering by stopping it before it could ever occur. To allow people to suffer through life knowing nothing but empty stomachs and battered bones and a numb tongue is a fate worse than death.

This film disgusts me. The statistics in it are made up, the main opinion, that criticises women who decide what to do with THEIR body, is given by a man, who won't ever get pregnant, and the film is shot awfully as well. I could write a ridiculously long review on how insulting this film is, but just take it from me, don't watch this. If you really do have a burning desire to know just how bad it is, watch the Cinema Snob's review.

Maybe I'm very old-fashioned, but shouldn't semi-amateur filmmakers, the kind who get friends and family to post reviews on IMDb (judging from the number of reviewers here who have one credit to their names -- this film) be a little humble? But this is the honest-to-God working/alternate title: American Hero: The Movie. I mean! And this is the tag line: One man. One Fight. The Ultimate Sacrifice. Well, there are many more than one man in this film -- it seems to be a completely male lead and made project, and almost all female characters are victims or deluded fools, with few or no lines, even about their own abortions. The one fight is clear -- against abortion, and not, I repeat, not a fight to pay for and care for children. You could say the protagonist takes it a little far: spying on the clinic behind Venetian blinds, harassing people going in and out, even pushing one girl over the edge into suicide. But I just don't see who or what the sacrifice is, let alone the Ultimate Sacrifice. Is it the abusive husband, lying in the pool of his own blood (symbolism!)? Is it the protagonist's wife, who thanks God in church for a man who opened her eyes? Or is it the viewer, sacrificing brain cells he will never get back?

Voiceless is a powerfully performed and well crafted story. The cinematography is moody, although occasionally fluctuations in the tint made it hard to look at the screen, the acting is decent, the characters are developed (human and not saints), and the screenplay is soul searching and thought provoking rather than preachy and feel-good. There were some problems with the sound at time that was distracting, but this is a low- budget film. One of the most powerfully characters, both in symbol and acting, was the Irish neighbor, although her background story was a little puzzling. Where was her father's church located when he fought for civil rights? Why is her accent so strong after living in Philadelphia for 50 years? However, these problems do not distract from a story that keeps moving, characters that grow, and a plot that thickens. I highly recommend you checkout Voiceless at your local theater.