Movie Review – October Baby
October Baby, a movie loosely based on the real life story of Gianna Jessen, a survivor of a failed abortion, opened in theaters last Friday. The film begins with Hannah, a college student, suffering an epileptic seizure as she is performing a play. The specialist she sees, a friend of her father’s, who is also a doctor, believes the many health problems she has suffered all her life are related.
This is when 19 year-old Hannah receives the first blow - she learns she is adopted. But there’s more. Her health problems stem from the fact that her birth mother had attempted to have her aborted. She survived, but was delivered three months premature.
The film centers around Hannah’s struggle with learning this news as a young adult, and her search for answers. She goes, with a childhood friend, on a quest to find out the truth about her past and to meet her birth mother.
October Baby is an emotional film that will draw plenty of tears from many viewers, and it is being released at the perfect time. One of the tragedies of just the past few weeks has been the contrived “war against women” fabricated by the left in the hopes that women can be inspired, out of anger, to reelect the President. Fortunately, at least until now, polls have shown that the vast majority of women aren’t falling for it. But the result has been that issues like abortion are being framed entirely in terms of politics. October Baby reminds us that they are about people.
The film is powerfully human. It confronts the pain and brokenness that abortion unfailingly brings. October Baby is certainly both pro-life and Christian, but it is not preachy. We enter into Hannah’s pain and confusion, and the anguish of her father who tries desperately to protect his little girl from suffering, only to realize he can’t; all he can do is support her as she goes through it. We witness Hannah’s struggle with forgiveness, which in the end is the one thing that finally brings her peace.
Along the way October Baby introduces us to a couple of characters that might be seen as the villains, such as Hannah’s birth mother and the nurse who assisted at the failed abortion attempt. But although the film does not sugar coat what abortion is, neither does it wag a judgmental finger at these two women. They are strikingly human, and we see that they too are suffering and in need of healing. In fact, movie goers that stay a few moments into the closing credits will see the actress who plays the birth mother step out of character and address them. Through tears she explains that she believes the role was made for her because as a young woman she had an abortion, went through the brokenness it brought her, found healing, and believes this role was a call from God to finally share her own story.
Because of its focus on relationships, October Baby might be considered a “chick flick.” In some ways perhaps it is, but there is plenty here for men to enjoy as well. Men will relate to Hannah’s father, and will appreciate the developing love between Hannah and her childhood friend Jason, which is so pure and selfless. And anyone who is pro-life or has suffered through an abortion or with a loved one who has, will relate.
I would strongly recommend this film. We need to support movies like this so we will get more of them with a truly Christian message, one that is pro-life, and full of healing and hope, and reminds us, as politicians rail on about “freedom of choice,” that abortion is not about campaign slogans, it is about human beings.
