A
frivolous TV commercial about a blind taste test of pasta sauces came
to mind when I watched “If I Stay.” The woman in the commercial reflects on her
choice of sauce and wonders how many other wrong choices she’s made in her
life. That’s what this movie is about: choice.
It’s
a coming-of-age film but with a lot of tragedy and drama thrown in. It’s based on the best-selling novel by Gayle Forman who was also a writer and producer on the film.
High
school sweethearts Jamie and Mia are struggling with decisions about their
futures. Will they follow their bliss together or go separate ways? Some of my
life decisions flashed through my memory: career, jobs, moves, relationships.
And
then the ultimate tragedy; a car accident and Mia’s an orphan in a coma. The
operating room nurse whispers to her that it’s up to her if she wants to live.
All of this is being observed by Mia who is having quite the out-of-body
experience. She’s reliving memories as well as watching the steady stream of friends
and loved ones visiting her in the ICU. Family and friends are always encouraged to talk out loud to unconscious patients. The evidence is overwhelming they hear us.
That
evoked memories of my chaplain training in the ICUs of an Austin, Texas
hospital. So when I saw the social worker character doing all the updating on
the condition I kept asking myself, where’s the chaplain? A brief scene later
on showed a man in a collar talking with the grandmother but that was it.
This
story is about what it means to be a friend, a family, a significant other, how
to overcome self and what should be the priorities in a life. It did fairly
well at the box office after its August 22 release and I recommend it to just
about everyone. If your family has suffered a catastrophic accident and you’ve
endured hours of ICU waiting rooms, you might want to take a pass.
“If
I Stay” has moved into the second-run theaters in my town. If you missed it,
the DVD release date is November 18.
--Dan Webster
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