To Save a Life

Jake is the most popular kid in school and has a promising future, but his world is rocked when tragedy strikes his childhood best friend. Now Jake is forced to ask “Could I have saved him?” With help from a few new friends, he embarks on a journey to live a life of purpose, knocking down the sacred social barriers of high school life and befriending a loner, Johnny Garcia. But When Johnny’s life soon spiral’s out of control, will Jake have what it takes to stop him from the same tragic end? Can one person really make a difference?

To Save a Life is a powerful Christian film about suicide, faith, and the power of one person to make a difference in the lives of many. Set in an urban high school where the jocks are high on the popularity scale and partying is commonplace, the film opens with several striking segments that include a surprisingly uncensored look at a teen culture ripe with underage drinking, bullying, and sexuality. Jake (Randy Wayne) is a popular basketball player who's at the heart of every party, but when he witnesses a childhood friend commit suicide in the halls of their school, he begins to reflect upon how he treated his friend in recent years. As he starts to grapple with his own sense of right versus wrong and struggles to define what his duty toward others might be, he meets a youth pastor who intrigues him despite his own disinterest in religion. As Jake's relationships with his parents and his girlfriend Amy become increasingly tumultuous and confusing, Pastor Chris (Joshua Weigel) serves as someone he can talk to, and his weekly youth group becomes a safe place where he can be himself without the fear of being judged. With Chris's help, Jake sets out on a journey of transformation and personal growth that will reveal God's unconditional love and Jake's power to make a difference in the lives of others. This film is both graphic in its demonstrations of immorality and openly preachy, traits that may render it uncomfortable viewing for many, but those very traits send a powerful message to modern teens. (Ages 13 and older) --Tami Horiuchi