Just before the last weekend, another march for life rally wrapped up. As the movement continues it’s ever-present fight to see an end to legalized abortion, it may be a good idea to mention a few movies that have the pro-life message infused within it. It’s a good way for us to see and recognize how this message can come alive, in the art form, without sacrificing it’s entertainment value.

Just to clarify the criteria these movies fall under.

Overt mentions of abortion, or Christianity are not required. As a matter of fact, some of these movies are likely made by auteurs who are neither pro-life, or even aware of the pro-life implications of their own work.

We will also focus on movies that were successful in the mainstream. This is not the doubt the superb qualities of indy projects with cult followings. However, this list is also about showing the potential for this message beyond our small pockets of culture. This isn’t just a show that aprilife movie can be made but that it can have mainstream appeal.

On the bright side, the list of those kinds of movies will be provided as honorable mentions at the end of this post.

Either way, these movies are selected because at the core of them, the inherent message of the pro-life message abounds. That life is sacred. That it’s value is not subjective. That even the most civilized societies are capable of dehumanizing people, based on arbitrary categorizations, denying them of their inherent value. And that no matter how sophisticated the rationale, it is unequivocally evil. It speaks to the universal truth in the message of this issue, and that the only things that would need to change are the superficial aspects of the story.

These movies are by no means a complete list of all pro-life movies out there. They are certainly not ranked from best to worst, or anything like that. They’re just movies to observe with a closer lens for it’s pro-life message. Might also be a good list to consult for your weekend viewing as you warm up inside from the chilly DC march.

1. The Island

In what is arguably Michael Bay’s best film, The Island is set in a desert facility in a dystopian 2019.

Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor) lives a manicured existence along with several hundred others, under a strict set of rules. These rules are there as they are told, for their safety. The one thing that keeps them going, is the periodic selection of a “lucky winner” to go live in a mysterious island, free of the pathogens that contaminated the outside world.

Lincoln’s existence is disrupted by a combination of recurring dreams he cannot explain, growing questions he cannot find answers to, and conversations he has with a disillusioned maintenance employee (Steve Buscemi) he frequently sneaks off to hang out with. He discovers that they are actually clones, and that they exist as surrogates whose organs are harvested for the wealthy.

Along with his best friend, Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansen), another “survivor,” they must escape the facility. If they ever make it to the outside world, they must evade capture, and expose the truth about the organization.

Notable Scene:

The cast is rounded out by Sean Bean, Djimon Hounsou, and Michael Clark Duncan.
Cautionary elements include language, violence, sex, and death.

2. Gattaca

In the future, eugenics is common practice. The course of a human being’s life is determined from birth, and what he/she does with their lives is pre-determined by their society, outside of their own free will.

In this future, “valids” are people created through genetic engineering. They are superior, and placed in more favorable positions in society.

“I’ll never understand what possessed my mother to place her faith in God’s hands, rather than those of her local geneticist.”

And with this decision, Vincent Freeman (Ethan Hawke) is born an “in-valid.” Conceived through traditional means, he comes with all the natural detriments that come with being human. This makes life in a futuristic world, precarious for a natural human. Freeman’s status as an in-valid, relegates him to menial work.

This all changes when he meets Jerome Morrow (Jude Law), a former star swimmer, now paralyzed after being hit by a car. Through pain-staking measures, and arduous grooming routines, Freeman assumes the identity of Morrow, opening him to possibilities beyond the limits of of his status, and even (quite literally) beyond the earth itself.

Notable scene:

The Cast is rounded out by Uma Thurman, Alan Arkin, Gore Vidal, Loren Dean, Ernest Borgnine, and many others.
Cautionary elements include language, sex, mild violence, and death.

3. Horton Hears A Who

Adapted from the children’s classic by Dr. Seuss, in 2008. Horton (Jim Carrey) is an endearing elephant who discovers that a speck of dust contains a planet. The film follows this good-natured elephant as he battles treacherous obstacles (both in nature, and the other animals he encounters to protect the small planet.

From Direction by Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino, the film stays closely faithful to the beloved book, as it solidifies it’s central message:

“A person’s a person, no matter how small.”

Notable Scene:

The film’s cast includes Steve Carrell, Carol Burnett, Seth Rogen, Will Arnett, and many others.

4. Wall-E

700 years after polution renders the earth unhinhabitable, a droid is tasked with cleaninig it up. The droid, Wall-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) sorts through items that were once part of regular life, salvaging what it can, and what it can’t.

Wall-E’s only contact with humanity, is found in its trailer, where it watches VHS tapes of Gene Kelly musicals. It is in these videos that he sees a couple holding hands. This subsequently sparks something inside of Wall-E, that reminds him he is meant for more. This realization is forced into the surface with the arrival of another droid, EVE.

One of the interesting things about Wall-E is that it’s release was shrouded in a misconception. That this was an environmentalist film. A point contradicted by Andrew Stanton, the film’s director (as well as the writer and director of such Pixar hits as Finding Nemo, Finding Dory, and John Carter Of Mars):

“People made this connection that I never saw coming with the environmental movement, and that’s not what I was trying to do. I was just using the circumstances of people abandoning the Earth because it’s filled with garbage as a way to tell my story.”

Wall-E is a film that explores what it truly means to be human, by exploring humanity through the eyes of something not human. The elements of our humanity that have become all too familiar to us (and have subsequently become too easy to dismiss), Wall-E gradually discovers anew. And through his fresh eyes, the wonder at even the ordinary comes out.

Stanton whose filmmaking comes from a deeply held faith, explains it further:

“Well, what really interested me was the idea of the most human thing in the universe being a machine because it has more interest in finding out what the point of living is than actual people. The greatest commandment Christ gives us is to love, but that’s not always our priority. So I came up with this premise that could demonstrate what I was trying to say—that irrational love defeats the world’s programming. You’ve got these two robots that are trying to go above their basest directives, literally their programming, to experience love.
With the human characters I wanted to show that our programming is the routines and habits that distract us to the point that we’re not really making connections to the people next to us. We’re not engaging in relationships, which are the point of living-relationship with God and relationship with other people.”

Notable Scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B44OUTGXmg

The Cast includes Sigourney Weaver, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, and more.

5. A Quiet Place

In an annihilated earth, roams an invading alien presence. They are blind, but their hearing is hypersensitive. So to avoid getting eaten by them, one must truly reacquaint with the phrase, “silence is golden.” It is in this world, we find the Abbott family.

Lee (John Krasinski, who also directs) and his wife Evelyn (wife in real life, Emily Blunt), along with their children, travel barefoot into town to find supplies. On one such trip, a careless moment brings a tragic encounter that leaves them one less child out of their three children.

About a year later, and Evelyn is pregnant. The family’s life in a hunkered survival mode becomes more restless, and their lives continue to remain uncertain. The arrival of this child intensifies the situation, but the value and priority placed in its survival is unmistakably high.

Whether intentional or not, the things the culture says to itself to remove the humanity of an unborn child gives way to a truer reality of God’s design.

Notable Scene:

The cast is rounded out by Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, and Leon Russom.

Honorable Mentions:

• Crescendo
• Bella
• Unplanned
• Storks
• Goznell
• October Baby
• Blade Runner
• Soul