To Save a Life Blu-ray delivers stunning video and great audio in this excellent Blu-ray release
Jake Taylor has it all: friends, fame, a basketball scholarship and the hottest girl in school. What could be better? Enter Roger Dawson. Roger has nothing. No friends. No hope. Nothing but putdowns and getting pushed aside. Things couldn’t get worse. Jake and Roger were best friends when they were kids. But the politics of high school quickly pulled them apart. Now Roger doesn’t fit in Jake’s – or anyone’s circle – and he’s had enough. He walks onto campus with a gun in his pocket and pain in his heart and makes a tragic move. Jake’s last-ditch effort can’t stop Roger, and the sudden tragedy rocks Jake’s world. Something breaks loose inside and sends him questioning everything.
God, we don't always understand why, but we choose to trust You even in our pain.
These are times of great peril. Countless crises before have come and gone to be sure, but the
deluge of issues faced today by a world that seems always on the brink of another disaster --
devastating hurricanes, costly oil spills, economic uncertainty, terrorism, lengthy wars, and political
strife -- paint a picture where the absence of hope, the dimming of the light at the end of the
tunnel, constant bickering, perpetual distrust, or fear of the unknown have come to define the
21st century. That's not even to mention the personal crises faced by millions in the home and
within themselves -- unplanned pregnancies, broken families, self-doubt -- that only seem to work
in some negative harmony with the larger issues facing the world that together seem to advance
the notion that hope, peace, understanding, acceptance, friendship, a helping hand, or a kind word
are but dreams of a place that seems to have long since vanished or, maybe, even, never existed.
Despite it all, great advances in technology, communication, and medicine have made the
world a smaller place, a place, it would seem thanks to these miracles of science, that's ripe and
ready to yield the means of solving problems, not adding to them. It doesn't seem to be
happening, but maybe people aren't looking in the right place. This is a world, maybe, that needs
something more, something supernatural, something science cannot explain or create, something
that's greater than the great turmoil that appears on the news and the personal crises that chew
at every man's soul. To Save a Life, a small faith-based picture that shares the importance
of honest and Biblically-based faith, friendship, understanding, and love, just might, somewhere in
its touching and purposeful commentary, have those answers that can't be found elsewhere.
Looking for answers.
Jake Taylor (Randy Wayne) was at one time best friends with Roger Dawson (Robert Bailey Jr.).
Roger even saved Jake's life one, pushing him out of the way of a speeding car, breaking his own
leg in the process and leaving him with a lifelong limp. As time passed, however, the two found
themselves drifting apart. Jake's basketball career blossomed and he earned the love of the most
desirable girl in school, Amy (Deja Kreutzberg). Ultimately, Jake chose to revel in his popularity and
abandon Roger for good, leaving him a friendless outcast and questioning his place in the world.
Then, out
of nowhere, it seems, Roger commits suicide by gun in school and in front of Jake. His classmates
do little
more than shrug it off, but Jake begins to questions his own part in Roger's suicide. He let his
friend down, and he's paying the price with a tattered conscience and a troubled soul. As fortune
-- or something greater still -- would have it, Jake meets the local youth minister, Chris (Joshua
Weigel), who also sees himself as something of a guilty party in Roger's death for having paid him
little attention when Roger reached out to Chris' ministry days before his suicide, only to again find
himself alone and ignored. Chris, instead, reaches out to Jake; he invites him to church, an
invitation Jake
accepts as a means of escaping from his crumbling home life. As Jake finds himself questioning his
life and priorities, he must choose to act on an inkling that may be a higher calling or to move on
with his life and ignore the cries for help he hears not only from those around him, but from within
his own
heart.
What To Save a Life is and needs to be is a portal towards, a window that looks upon, an
introduction to, or a reinforcement of those Godly principles that can reshape a life and maybe
rescue
another from the perils of a world that seems defined by negativity both internal and external. It's
about seeing past façades, looking beyond what others deem right or wrong, and answering
that
call that dares one to be different, to stand up for what he or she believes, to find faith and
friendship
and truth and light by means of having traversed the disbelief, the loneliness, the lies, and the
darkness and finding that there's something more, something better, something worth sharing,
something worth living for, beyond all that which threatens to destroy the good for the betterment
of
evil. No doubt the world is a frightening place. Disaster seems like it's around every corner on a
global, national, local, and personal level. It's impossible to escape, but it's not impossible to find
meaning in it and a means of combatting it by daring to deny the powers of strife and hate and
rejection and fear by accepting the challenge to find a higher calling and rising above those that
would promote evil by instead glorifying and exemplifying all that is good. To Save a Life
tells
the story of one
teenager who found in tragedy a purpose for his life that had been masked by those around him,
people who chose to ignore the pain of others and promote only self and one another without care
for
those in need and, just as importantly, the welfare of their own souls.
To Save a Life is a difficult film to watch, but not because it's poorly developed or shoddily
produced. Quite the opposite, in fact; the film is so effective at depicting the pain of its characters
and the uncertainty of the world in which they live that their struggles seem to extend beyond the
scope of the film and settle into the audience's conscience, effectively placing each viewer in the
shoes of all those characters with some role to play in Jake's journey from popular jock to a man
who sees beyond self and accepts responsibility for righting the wrongs around him. No doubt the
film is built with the purpose of emotionally and thematically making its message come through
loud and clear -- it will yank on the heartstrings and never stop doing so, even after film's end --
but that's how Inspirational cinema works, and To Save a Life, despite some tearjerking
moments and contrived plot devices, never feels at all phony or disingenuous. The characters are
strongly developed and always seem like real people with real problems, hopes, fears, and
relationships, and the progression through the film for each one feels honest rather than
dramatically manipulative. It's difficult to witness the downward spirals, doubts, and tragedies that
unfold, but it's equally inspiring to see the characters not just pull through and survive, but to
thrive, to find something greater than themselves, not only for the sake of their own well-being but
for the betterment of others. As the film might say and the old saying goes, "the Lord works in
mysterious ways," and while pain and suffering and self-doubt and hardships and lies and dangers
abound, To Save a Life responds by saying, "God, we don't always understand why, but we
choose to trust You even in our pain."
Indeed, To Save a Life is a movie with the potential to engender with a viewing
life-changing
realizations on the importance of discovering good through the ultimate understanding of how and
why bad things happen. One of the movie's great strengths is that it sugarcoats nothing; it puts
everything on the table and leaves no stone unturned, focusing rather bluntly on issues such as
suicide, premarital sex, teen pregnancy, abandonment, infidelity, divorce, hate, prejudice, and
dishonesty, all with blunt and real (but still PG-13 appropriate) language. To Save a Life
works because it's not afraid of the truth, the truth in pain and the truth in salvation. It's a
Christian faith-based film with honest spiritual overtones that are never hidden but not always
bluntly inserted into the story. The story focuses on choosing friendship, faith, and integrity
over sacrificing others and one's own self-worth for the sake of enjoying the superficial perks of
being a part of the "in-crowd;" it proves not only touching but also heartfelt, honest, and
emotionally
charged, and all purposefully so. Additionally, the picture's themes and purposes are only helped by
a
steady production that looks much bigger than its small budget might otherwise suggest. To
Save a Life has all the spit and polish of Dramas that cost far more than the reported
$1,000,000 budget; there never seems a time when the movie looks like it's cutting corners, and
despite the absence of any "movie stars," the cast all deliver some of the most honest
performances viewers are ever likely to encounter in an Inspirational film. Kudos to Director Brian
Baugh, Writer Jim Britts, the cast, and the crew for making To Save a Life a movie that
works just as well from a technical perspective as it does an emotional and thematic one.
A low-budget movie doesn't necessarily mean a low-grade Blu-ray; Sony brings To Save a Life
to the high definition format with a nearly-faultless 1080p, 2.35:1-framed transfer. There's very little
to
be said
about this one. Detail is dazzling, the transfer capturing even the slightest nuances on character faces,
clothes, grasses, cars, walls, and any and every object found in-frame. Depth is strong, clarity is
superb, and the image is consistently sharp. Colors excel, appearing vibrant in every scene but never
looking artificially boosted or underdeveloped. Blacks, too, are very strong, absorbing and deep but
never devouring finer details within the frame. Flesh tones also maintain a pleasant neutrality. To
Save a Life features no discernible blemishes and just a slight bit of background noise, and the
transfer yields a wonderfully convincing cinematic presentation. This has all the hallmarks of a pristine
transfer, and indeed, never does To Save a Life deliver anything less. This is another splendid
new release transfer from Sony.
To Save a Life comes to Blu-ray with a DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack that's of a rather typical
Drama-on-Blu-ray quality. The film is dialogue-intensive, and it handles the spoken word very well, but
it also does a few other things that manage to spruce up the listen and add some vitality to the
experience. The track delivers just the right amount of surround support in those scenes that demand
it. An early basketball game scene features a fair bit of ambient crowd noise spilling into the back
channels; listeners won't mistake it for a real-life event, but it's certainly good enough for a low-budget
Drama soundtrack. The track is also punchy in places, with some Rap music one scene delivering some
crisp notes across the front and a fair, but not overpowering, accompanying low end. Otherwise, this
track is made of the most basic nuts-and-bolts elements; it offers nothing new and nothing particularly
memorable, but it's a fine supportive track to a Drama-intensive movie, and listeners will be
hard-pressed to find too many faults with Sony's effort.
To Save a Life debuts on Blu-ray with a fair assortment of extras. Things begin with an audio
commentary track with Director Brian Baugh, Writer/Co-Producer Jim Britts, and Producers Nicole
Franco and Steve Foster. This is a fairly basic track, light but informative, with the participants
covering the expected array of topics, including the challenge of opening the film with a funeral scene,
the casting process, the picture's themes, shooting the various basketball scenes, filling out several
scenes with extras, the picture's length, and plenty of other interesting tidbits. This is a fairly strong
track that fans will enjoy. 'To Save a Life:' Behind the Scenes (1080p, 12:16) is a short piece
with cast and crew discussing the picture's purpose and themes, the work of Director Brian Baugh, the
quality of the actors, the work of extras, shooting the basketball segments, and more, all intercut with
plenty of behind-the-scenes footage. Also included is a collection of eight deleted scenes (1080p,
9:47); a gag reel (1080p, 5:58); the music
videos "Bounce" by J-Rus (1080p, 3:31) and "Sunset Cliffs" by Paul Wright (1080p, 3:18); BD-Live
functionality; and 1080p trailers for The Karate Kid, Facing the Giants, and
Fireproof.
To Save a Life is a film best suited to age-appropriate teenagers who are looking for meaning
in life or a reinforcement of their Christian values. For others, don't let the "Christian" or
"Inspirational" labels become deciding factors in passing this one by. To Save a Life is an
honest and genuinely good and well-meaning picture that is, yes, sometimes blunt in its message but
also sincere
in the way that it delivers it. There's no hidden agenda, no dishonesty about the story, no glossing
over the tough issues. If for no other reason, To Save a Life deserves recognition for serving
as a picture that's as current, relevant, and hard-hitting as most anything else that's out there in its
category, and from a technical perspective, it holds its own with any Hollywood big-budget Drama in
terms of production values and appeal. To Save a Life is a must-see picture for audiences that
can handle the tough themes and who are maybe in need of a movie that's capable of bringing about
an understanding of why things happen and the power that exists in nothing more than an extended
hand, a "hello," or a belief
in something greater than one's own self, any and all of which can maybe save not just a life but one's
own soul in
crisis. Sony's Blu-ray
release of To Save a Life boasts a pristine 1080p transfer, a good lossless soundtrack, and
several worthwhile extras. Highly recommended.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced To Save a Life for Blu-ray release on August 3. This Christian drama dealing with issues of teenage angst and miscommunication comes from Samuel Goldwyn Films, which had distributed similarly-themed movies such as ...
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