Pro–(broken) life

Who could have foreseen that 2007 would be the year of the unplanned pregnancy at the multiplex? Earlier this year, some critics complained that the bittersweet Waitress and the ultra-raunchy Knocked Up did not give due consideration to the fact that the mothers in both films could have had their pregnancies terminated. So it is striking that Juno, a smart and moving comedy starring Ellen Page as a pregnant highschool student, actually shows her going to an abortion clinic – and then walking out, because something a pro-life activist said outside stuck in her brain.

Once she leaves, Juno decides to tell her surprised but supportive parents about the pregnancy, and to let a seemingly cozy middle-class couple adopt her child. But things get complicated, as it becomes apparent that the would-be adoptive father (Jason Bateman) feels more comfortable hanging out with Juno than keeping up with his wife’s (Jennifer Garner) domestic ambitions. Meanwhile, the child’s actual father (Michael Cera), a highschool athlete, wants to get back together with Juno.

The film, written by former stripper Diablo Cody and directed by Jason Reitman (who previously directed the scathingly libertarian satire Thank You for Smoking) is not exactly trying to score points with social conservatives. Indeed, when all is said and done, neither Juno nor her child end up in a traditional family as such. But in a way, that just underscores the film’s implicit pro-life sensibility. Life is life, and deserves to be nurtured, even – if not especially – when everything around it is broken.

Peter T. Chattaway reviews movies for Christianity Today, ChristianWeek, and B.C. Christian News.