Thursday, November 30, 2006; A23
An invited audience...gathered at National Geographic Society's auditorium Monday night for ascreening of "Bella," an independently produced feature film. No mere movie, it offers hope for the beleaguered antiabortion movement to reverse the political tide running against it.
...Monday night's audience reflected the reaction [of nationwide] showings: an emotional experience for a stunning exhibition of cinema art that unexpectedly won a Toronto International Film Festival award. It is no propaganda film but a dramatic depiction of choices facing an unmarried pregnant woman.
..."Bella" arrives in an environment that has grown bleak for enemies of abortion. The Democratic Party has become so much the party of abortion rights that, of 41 freshmen Democrats elected to the House, only three are antiabortion.
Thus, the antiabortion movement sees "Bella" as providential. It is entertainment, not propaganda. Although Monday's screening was sponsored by the National Council for Adoption, the word "adoption" is uttered only once in the film. There are no tirades against abortion. Indeed, it acknowledges a woman's pain of carrying a baby to term only to give it up for adoption. In the end, however, the film is a heart-wrenching affirmation of life over death.
...If the crucifixion in "The Passion" was hard for non-Christians and some Christians to take, "Bella" on one level is a drama without religious overtones. But while the audience at Monday's screening was moved to tears, reaction from a commercial theater audience -- including women who have chosen an abortion -- could be different. The pro-life movement hopes, in the absence of effort by supposedly pro-life politicians, that it will point to a different way to deal with an unwanted pregnancy.
© 2006 Creators Syndicate Inc.
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