Saving
Sarah Cain
(On DVD)
Rated PG. Our ratings: V-0 ; L-1 ; S/N-1
th eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers,
as an act of intelligent worship, to give him your bodies, as a living
sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him. Don’t let the
world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your
minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God
for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true
maturity.
Romans 12:1-2 Phillips Translation
If ever there was a fish out of water film, it is this one in which
there are five fishes out of water—and if
we include the titular character herself when she visits Amish country, six.
Michael Landon, Jr. directed
this adaptation of the book of The Redemption of Sarah Cain by Beverly Lewis:
it appeared originally on the Lifetime Cable network. This is another film
that 20th century Fox is marketing for the whole family in DVD and theatrical
release. Although sharing with Witness characters who are Amish, it is not
in the same league as that film, one worth seeing just for the great barn-raising
sequence (even if Harrison Ford were not in it).
Sarah Cain (Lisa Pepper) is an ambitious columnist losing readers because she cannot seem to find subjects of sufficient interest. Her editor (Elliot Gould) at the Portland Oregon newspaper has placed her on notice. She receives a call that her estranged sister Ivy, who had married an Amish man and given birth to five children, has died suddenly. Her husband had died even earlier, so the five children, ranging in age from eight to sixteen, are now orphans. Surprisingly, when she travels to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania for the funeral, she is told by the child welfare agency that she is the legal guardian. (It is a bit hard to swallow that the sister would not have provided for the children to be raised by her husband’s relatives in the advent of her death, but then that would have spoiled the rest of the film—maybe the unexpectedness of her death will satisfy some viewers.) Anyway, Sarah decides that she will take the children back with her and raise them in Portland, rather than have them split up and raised by foster parents. All too quickly this section, set in beautiful Amish country (the film’s cinemaphotography is very good) is over, leaving Oscar nominee Tess Harper with just a cameo role as an Amish woman in a brief scene in which she has a mild clash with Sarah.
Thus the middle portion of the film follows the attempts of the five, raised with no electricity or other modern conveniences, as well as with morals and values that differ considerably from modern society’s, to cope in an alien environment. How will the world, in J.B. Phillip’s terminology “squeeze them into its mold”? For one thing, the Amish daily schedule is very different from that of a city dweller—I loved the scene when Sarah is awakened at 5 A.M., slightly before her usual get up time, by the beautiful voices of the children singing a hymn for their morning devotions. They speak with a slight German accent and wear their quaint Amish clothing at first at the insistence of oldest child Lyddie who wants them to maintain their “Plain” style. The results from their classmates at school are mixed, with a few of the girls thinking some of the country clothing as “cool.”. However, Caleb is heckled at school, and when he simply ignores it and answers, “danke,” the heckler asks his friends, “Did he just diss me in Pilgrim?” Caleb even joins the wrestling team at school despite the pacifist teachings he was raised with. Anna Mae, wanting to fit in more, “borrows” articles of Sarah’s clothing without telling her. Virtually all of the children begin to stretch the truth in order to fit in.
Worst off is Sarah, who starts writing about the children in her column. Both her editor and readers respond enthusiastically to her chronicles of the children adapting to life in the big city. But is this an invasion of their privacy? Should she be using them to advance her career? The children certainly do not think so when they find out—and Sarah’s boyfriend feels the same way. How this crisis is brought to a resolution in a loving way that shows that Sarah is indeed redeemed will leave viewers with a warm feeling, perhaps making them forget some of the dubious plot devices. This is a film for those wanting one that the whole family can watch.
For Reflection/Discussion
1) Do you think that Sarah’s writing problem in the first
part of the film is at least partially due to her uncertainty about her
values? What does she seem to want the most at this time? We are not told
why she and her sister had not communicated over the years, so why do you
think there was a gulf between them? Over values?
2) What does her unwillingness to have the children split up reveal about
her? But has she really thought through the consequences of her transporting
them to an alien environment?
3) How are the various children changed? How does the oldest, Lyddie, try
to resist change? What do you think of Caleb’s decision to join the
wrestling team? How do his Amish values win out?
4) How does Sarah come to realize that she had been on the wrong track? How
did you feel about what she does at the climax?
5) What do you think of the “plain” values of the Amish? Compare
their choice of clothing with the fashion values of our society. What do
you think of their attempt to remove themselves from the dominant culture?