If you thought the Academy Award winners were surprising, you won’t believe who won the 2009 Culture of Life Movie Awards.
These awards are given by Madrid’s archdiocesan weekly magazine, Alpha and Omega, to movies that uphold the culture of “life.”
Miguel Angel Velasco, director of the magazine stated, “Given the tendency to reward movies that represent the ‘culture of death’, [we] wanted to reward others that, in one way or another, defend the ‘culture of life.'”
And the winners (a few of them, at least) are…
“Bella” – A right winger favorite from 2008 that told the story of a woman who was going to choose to have an abortion and in the end…chose not too.
“4 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days” – A 2007 Romanian film set in Communist Romania that told the story of two students who try to arrange an illegal abortion.
And, perhaps most surprisingly, “Juno” – The Academy Award winning film from last year that…well, you all know the plot.
The awards announcement stated: “At a time when the dignity of the weakest human beings is trampled with impunity by politicians and legislators of numerous civilized countries, movies seem to emerge that run against the current, celebrating the positive value of life, even in circumstances of extreme pain…And these are not militant, discursive or reactionary films, nor are they directed by pro-life leaders. They are heartfelt and poignant human stories that give testimony of the simple joy of living.”
Now, as much as the folks over at Alpha and Omega might try to categorize these films as antiabortion, they can just as easily be construed as prochoice. In “4 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days,” we see what women have to resort to when abortion is prohibited.
In “Bella” and “Juno,” the women had the choice whether to exercise their right to abortion or not.
Ellen Page, star of “Juno” summed it up when asked whether the film was “prolife.” She replied:
“Not in the slightest, and if you knew me and if you knew the writer and the director, no one would ever say that. It happens to be a film about a girl who has a baby and gives it to a yuppie couple. That’s what the movie’s about. Like, I’m really sorry to everyone that she doesn’t have an abortion, but that’s not what the film is about. She goes to an abortion clinic and she completely examines all the opportunities and all the choices allowed her and that’s obviously the most crucial thing. It’s as simple as that.”
