My Review of the October Baby Movie

This past week I had the great privilege of joining a huge crowd of people for a preview of the movie October Baby.  My daughter accompanied me, and we arrived just in time to get decent seating.  A few minutes after our arrival, the theater was completely packed and not one seat left.  The theater personnel actually brought in a few extra chairs and set them by the handicap seats.  However, there were a handful of people still left standing.

Before the movie began, we were given a brief background on the makers of the film, Jon and Andrew Erwin.  I was touched and excited hearing about their desire and passion to make this film.

As the movie began, I was filled with anticipation.  I couldn’t even guess how the film would portray the whole topic of a young girl discovering the truth that she was adopted and alive because her mother’s abortion had been unsuccessful.  I looked forward to watching the story unfold about her search for answers and peace. 

The film is beautifully made.  The cinematography is lovely and extremely well done.  The acting is also very well done.  The characters drew me in, and I could truly feel the emotions of each one through the entire film.  While the topic of the film is quite a serious one, and respectfully treated as such, the Erwin brothers sprinkled a good bit of light and enjoyable humor all throughout the film. 

Here’s a 2-3 minute clip from the middle of the movie.  Chris Sligh (a singer and past contestant on American Idol) plays an entertaining character and gives us quite a few laughs.  It’s a lot funnier seeing this part of the movie having the background of some of what happens before this scene.  But it is still an enjoyable clip showing some of the bits of humor interspersed throughout the seriousness.

In the first half of the movie, not only do we get a good foundation on Hannah’s desperate need to search for and find the truth, but we also get a good dose of laughter.  In the second half, our heart strings are pulled way tighter. I cannot imagine how anyone seeing this film will be able to keep a dry eye.  I certainly couldn’t.  This is the first time I have ever sat in a movie and felt that I almost could not control my emotions.  But of course, I also can’t recall a movie which related so closely to my life giving it the power to affect me so deeply.  There were some moments when my body began to tremble, and I had to bite my lips and exercise some serious restraint to not weep uncontrollably.  Even as I type this, tears swell up in my eyes.  I felt Hannah’s pain in not feeling wanted by her birth mother, and her desperate need to find resolution.  And I felt my own pain of the beautiful life and daughter I missed out on because I aborted her 27 years ago. 

There were moments during the movie I also wondered if I had done the right thing inviting and bringing my daughter.  I couldn’t help but wonder if she would suddenly become angry with what I had done in the past, even though she’s never suggested that she has felt anger.  Would she think worse of me after watching this movie?

After the movie ended, we were also shown an extra clip of the actress, Shari Rigby, who plays Hannah’s biological mother.  Her story concerning being picked for the role is utterly God-incidence and God-amazing!  This clip explaining her story begins by showing a few seconds from the scene in the movie where Hannah meets and speaks to her biological mother for the first time: 

All I can say is, “Wow!”  As I watched her in the movie playing the part of the biological mother weeping about her sorrow, my heart joined hers.  It was all I could do not to weep aloud myself.

October Baby is realistic, powerful, touching, sensitive, moving, empowering, life-touching, redemptive, and life-changing.  I can’t say enough good things about it.  I encourage everyone to flood the theaters on opening weekend, March 23, and see it.  I recommend it for anyone high school age and up.

The Hollywood studios wouldn’t touch the film because of its “controversial” matter.  But the truth must be and needs to be spoken.  I am so sick and tired of the pretense and the lies which are promoted in this country:  The lies which proclaim that it is some supposedly justified human right for a woman to choose what she does with the baby growing within her womb.  The lies which proclaim the child growing in her womb is just a blob of tissue and does not feel pain.  The lies which proclaim that nothing else happens to the woman after she makes such a choice.  The lies which proclaim that abortion does not affect people, relationships, marriages, and families.  The lies which cover up the fact that a large amount of teen girls and women are pressured into getting abortions when they do not want one.

I wish I had NEVER had the choice or the legal right to have an abortion.  I will not be silent about this!  The right to kill one’s own baby is NO right at all!  It is a trap for regret, shame, and guilt.  It is bondage.  It is painful.  It is damaging.  It is haunting.  It is full of wounding and life-affecting circumstances for women, men, and families.  October Baby fueled my desire and determination to speak out, to reach out, to help out, to profess the truth, and to expose the lies.

Here is the official trailer to the movie.

My huge and heartfelt thanks to the Erwin brothers and to everyone else who joined their efforts in making this movie and having it shown.

I hope you’ll go see it and invite you to share with me your thoughts after you do.