Sunday, April 1, 2012

October Baby Review: Worthy of Oscar Nominations

Every life is beautiful and so is October Baby. Beautiful might be the best and only way to describe the movie called October Baby. It has been many years since I have been so touched by a movie. The last time a movie moved me like October Baby did was Children of a Lesser God. Marlee Matlin's performance in that movie is something that I will never forget. After all these years it still touches my heart every time I think about it. I feel the same way and maybe even more about October Baby. Everyone in the cast was great. Just the best and most awesome group of actors that I have ever seen.  Even the ones that had small parts did a great job. I have nothing but love for them all. Jennifer Price was great as the adoptive mother. Rachel Hendrix was great as Hannah. Jasmine Guy and Shari Rigby gave two performances that will blow you away. Most people know Jasmine Guy from the TV show A Different World and Dead Like Me. Chris Sligh did a great job giving some humor to a very serious movie. Most people know Chris Sligh from American Idol. John Schneider has been in many movies and tv shows. He is best known for The Dukes of Hazzard and Smallville. The writers of the movie did exceptional work. Oscar nomination worthy work on this movie. They took a storyline that was not new. An old storyline that we have seen many times before in other movies. Someone finds out they are adopted. Then they go on a search for their birth parents. We have seen and read this storyline hundreds of times before. They took this storyline and made a masterpiece. One of the most heartwarming movies ever made. October Baby was inspired by a true story, the story of Gianna Jessen. However 80% of October Baby could be the story of any person that was adopted.

Is October Baby good enough for some Oscar nominations? Yes, it is that good. However that is zero chance of that happening. Two reasons why. First it's hard some people like New York Times critic Jeannette Catsoulis to give an objective opinion of the movie. The second reason is that not enough people will see this movie. It did pretty good last weekend. It might keep doing about the same.  But I don't think it well every do great. Not a lot of people will go see it. The main problem is that most people have never heard about this movie. Friends, co-workers, no one I know has heard about October Baby. I don't know what the advertising budget is for October Baby but I bet it's not large. Also the kinds of people going to see this movie are been very limited. Mostly these people are evangelical Christians and strong prolife supporters. That's too bad because this movie can and does appeal to a much larger audience.

Prolife and prochoice groups have both been freaking out over October Baby. Abortion is a very controversial subject. People on both sides get crazy at times. October Baby is not a controversial movie. Even thou some people try to make it one. Everyone is trying to make this into the big abortion movie.  For me the bond between adoptive parents and their kids is a large part of the movie. There is also a nice love story in the movie.

The movie is being marketed heavily as a faith based or Christina film.  The reason is that it promotes a certain set of moral values.  I believe the moral values in October Baby exists in all religions. Not just the Christian religion. So go and see October Baby. If you are a Jew, Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Wiccan, Atheist, or Buddhist go and see October Baby.  Even if you are gay, straight, bi or Thai you should see October Baby.







Links-
Rachel Hendrix

October Baby

I will try to update this page later with links for all the cast members.