Voiceless

Starring Rusty Joiner, Jocelyn Cruz
Rated: PG-13

Running Time: 107 minutes
In theaters Oct. 7

Let’s Face it. The problem with most pro-life and Christian films is that they don’t pack a punch. They’re poorly acted, poorly written with dime-store budgets. They just lack the smack.
Then there are the exceptions. Voiceless hits home like few faith-based films. You’ve probably noticed the insertion of a few sports adjectives here. Stay with me. The film stars Rusty Joiner (Dodgeball, Melrose Place) as Jesse Dean, a recently discharged soldier who had a rough upbringing, but later became a devout Christian.

He and his wife move to Philadelphia so he can take a new job as an outreach leader at an old church with declining membership. Just as he begins to connect with the community — even opening a boxing program at the church hall — he discovers there’s an abortion mill directly across the street from the church.

Jesse goes to the pastor and several others in the church for help, but to no avail. Then tragedy strikes. A woman he’d met outside the abortion mill commits suicide. At the funeral, the girl’s family comes down on him because he had advised her against the abortion.

Despite his best efforts to aid the abortion-minded women he sees across the street every day, church members and his wife urge Jesse to just ignore the problem. He is left with a choice: take the easy way out and back off or face a major confrontation, requiring him to put everything on the line.

The film — from executive producer Jason Jones (Bella), an At Large Legatus member —encourages individuals and church communities to stand up for the lives of the unborn and abortion-minded women, particularly as it pertains to defending every single human life.

PATRICK NOVECOSKY is Legatus magazine’s editor-in-chief.