Harrowing and captivating, ‘Unplanned’ has an important message on abortion for us all
IPERCEIVED the movie ‘Unplanned’ as a religious, zealous, judgmental, anti-abortion production. And made by a Christian movie company I assumed there would also be a good dollop of anger thrown in with poor acting in an amateurish production. With some reluctance I asked two people, both of whom I am close to, if they would like to come to ‘Unplanned’ with me. As it was a true story, I was certain I did not want to be there on my own. Terrified of the possibility of gory images, I wanted to be sure that I would not be the only one averting my head in revulsion.
If it was overwhelmingly moving or tragic I wanted to know that I would not be crying alone. Politically, two of us were pro-life and the other was pro-choice.
I predicted a divergence of opinion at the end on the quality of the movie based on our political stances. I was convinced that the pro-choice perspective would have the upper hand in our evaluation of its quality. I was utterly wrong.
We arrived for the 3.30pm showing at the Savoy in Dublin, and assumed there’d be no difficulty finding a seat but the cinema was full apart from the front row.
From the beginning, it was gripping. In fact the story was narrated, in part, by Abby Johnson herself, beginning with her being called to assist at an abortion, in the clinic of which she was the director.
She had not seen the procedure before and when she found herself participating in an ultrasound-guided abortion, she looked at the scan of the baby about to literally have its life sucked away and that was her Damascus moment. It reminded her of the ultrasound image of her own unborn baby, now a little child, she had seen a few years earlier. With her changed view of abortion, she relinquished her proudly held position as the youngest ever director of a Planned Parenthood Centre to become a pro-life advocate.
The most terrifying prospect of a film such as this is the gore. Yet it was no more bloody than any episode of ER and these were short-lived and not gratuitous.
Neither is it judgmental of women having abortions but portrays them as weary and reluctant rather than empowered.
And the workers in the clinic are depicted sympathetically as simply doing a day’s work to earn their bread. Johnson came across as a nice person, even when she was trying to get members of the 40 Days for Life protest to move away from the perimeter fence. When she turns on water hoses the protesters took it all in their stride without rancour and returned to praying once the water has been turned off. She talks to the protesters and strikes up an amicable relationship with a similaraged young woman who prays and counsels women on the footpath outside the clinic. She and Johnson compare notes and get to know each other on first-name terms over time.
Even within the pro-life groups, it is clear that those Bible thumpers yelling “baby murderers” are distanced from those praying silently. There is only a brief shot of the name-callers. The respect shown to both sides is striking and this almost certainly stems from Johnson’s own understanding of what motivates the women working in the clinic – after all she was once one of them.
The grumpy and uncaring gynaecologist who performs abortions every day is acted by a former abortion doctor who, like Johnson, turned his back on the business and became a pro-life advocate. Dr Anthony Levatino in fact came to Ireland and gave evidence to the Citizens’ Assembly in 2016 based on his experience as a former abortion provider.
Was it acted well? For the most part yes. The manager Cheryl, whom Johnson replaced at the clinic, was a little stilted in the early scenes but was, after all, portraying the cold face of a multimillion-dollar business. A low angle shot in dim lighting gives her a sinister aura as she supervises Johnson in assembling the piece of foetal tissue after an abortion has been completed.
When she later encounters Johnson just after she has left Planned Parenthood, the darkness again returns and you feel certain she might be Johnson’s nemesis when she utters “Congratulations. You’ve made an enemy of the most powerful organisation on the planet”. But as history has taught us, she was not.
The head of 40 Days for Life, a man in his 30s called Shawn, slightly overacted in the beginning but grows into the part. His moment of glory comes when he is told Johnson is in his office having come over to the other side. His deadpan greeting “Rough day at the office?” was masterful.
The music by composer Stephen Blake Kanicka is excellent at stimulating and maintaining tension as lives are ended. There are some schmaltzy moments also between the couples Abby and her husband Doug and Shawn and Marilisa.
Over tea and buns afterwards my companions and I were ad idem in more respects than I had envisaged. We all agreed ‘Unplanned’ was not amateurish nor did it portray either side of the debate as evil or zealous.
We concurred it was much better produced and acted and with more nuance than anticipated. There were harrowing moments, specific to each of us, but there were no arguments, only relief, and an appreciation of this surprising movie.
Its showing has been extended for another week and it is also opening in additional cinemas this weekend.
It was not amateurish and nor did it portray either side of the debate as evil or zealous
Patricia Casey is Consultant Psychiatrist in the Mater Hospital, Dublin and Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at UCD.