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An Unexpected
Delight: "Expecting Mary"
Part Two of Three By Dave Andrusko When you live in an area whose residents don't react well to snow, you take extra precautions. Last night with the first flakes falling from what could have been a fairly major snow storm (at least by the standards of the Washington, DC metropolitan area), I decided to go back to work to avoid getting crushed in traffic this morning. Talk about serendipity. A couple of days ago a colleague had asked if I had heard about a film titled, "Expecting Mary." Yes, I said, vaguely. He gave me a DVD, and about 10:00 last night I sat down to watch an utterly delightful, moving, and inspirational film. Mary is a pregnant 16-year-old runaway who has fled her distant mother (Cybil Shepard) and step-father in search of her dad (played by Gene Simmons, front man of the band Kiss) who she is convinced will be "cool" with her advanced (eight month) pregnancy. They had wanted her to abort the baby because Mary's unmarried status would be an embarrassment for them in the rich, fancy schmancy set they run in. The movie's narrative thread is the "family" that informally adopts Mary (beautifully played by Olesya Rulin)--a rag-tag collection of elderly, exceedingly lovable characters who live in a trailer park that has seen better days in New Mexico. Quirky and colorful on the surface, they understand to the depths of their souls that Mary is very young, very pregnant, very exposed to danger (she is hitchhiking her way to California, where her dad, an over-the-hill rocker, lives), and very much in need of direction and help and adult supervision. Is the film perfect? No. Is it a wonderful opportunity to affirm that an unplanned pregnancy can nonetheless have a wonderful outcome? Most assuredly so. "Expecting Mary" weaves a number of pro-life threads together in an unobtrusive and convincing way. Darnella (played by Linda Gray) is a one-time Vegas showgirl, now scraping along performing in a tiny Indian casino which is just north of bankruptcy. In spite of everything (and clearly, she's been through a lot), Darnella is an incurable optimist. She rescues Mary, and, in the process, bring together the residents of the trailer park (and its owner, played by Della Reese) as a caring, surrogate family. It is important to know that Darnella tells Mary that she had become pregnant when she was not much older than Mary. We subsequently learn that Darnella gave her baby up for adoption. "Expecting Mary" also teaches an invaluable lesson. In caring for others, even if we are by nature grumps (as is Reese's character, Doris Dorkus), the better angels of our nature can make an appearance. In a sense this is what happens to Mary, who tells us (in a sort of half-convincing manner) that she is having the baby because her mother and step-father don't want her to. Darnella moves the conversation (and Mary's moral maturity) step- by-step--from referring to "it" to understanding that this is "my baby." In addition, the movie quietly celebrates the win-win nature of adoption. Mary meets a couple in a Lamaze class that is about to have their first child after eight years of trying. The same day Mary delivers her baby (on Christmas Eve, no less), the woman's own baby is stillborn. In very discrete and loving manner-- and drawing on her own experience, no doubt--Darnella helps Mary understand the wisdom and self-sacrificial character of allowing this couple to raise her baby as their own. The ending is very powerful. The movie was put together on a shoestring budget. But "Expecting Mary" is rich in themes and messages that will resonate with pro-lifers and all other people of good will. Please send your comments on Today's News & Views and National Right to Life News Today to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha. |