After a long, uphill climb, battling hordes of naysaying distributors and outraged protestors along the way, Pure Flix’s Unplanned has finally made its way to a nationwide release in Canada.
The latest offering from the makers of God’s Not Dead (and its gloriously derivative sequel, God’s Not Dead 2), Unplanned is the first film in a wave of pro-life proselytism to hit theatres this year, with Roe v. Wade (starring the likes of Jon Voight, Tomi Lahren, and Milo Yiannpoulous) still on track for a 2019 release date.
Unplanned hit American theatres on March 29, exceeding most projections by grossing $6.4 million on its debut weekend. However, it struggled to find a footing in Canada as Cineplex, the country’s largest theatre chain, initially refused to screen the film citing distribution uncertainty.
But after finally acquiring the Canadian distribution rights for the film from a small company called Cinedicom, the door opened for Unplanned to make its debut in fourteen Cineplex theatres nationwide on July 12. Ellis Jacob, President and CEO of Cineplex, released a statement in which he justified the wide release by invoking the notion that, “Canada is a country that believes in and rallies behind freedom of expression.”
The public reception to Unplanned in Canada has been polarizing. Abortion advocates have organized protests outside of Edmonton theatres, while others have sent threats to theatre owners in Salmon Arm, British Columbia. Meanwhile, those on the pro-life side have flocked to participating theatres in droves.
At the 7:45 showing on July 13 at Calgary’s largest theatre, the movie played to a packed auditorium with 158 of 163 seats filled. Security guards flanked the entrances while theatre employees serpentined through the rows of seats, checking the tickets of all present.
Slightly over a hundred minutes later, the audience uproariously applauded as Unplanned’s credits began to roll. The assembled congregation extolled the virtues of the preceding sermon, which follows a story based on the real-life experiences of converted anti-abortion advocate and one-time Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson (Ashley Bratcher).
Unplanned is a dangerously misleading film which makes dozens of flimsy, inflammatory claims against the practices of abortion clinics. Using medical analysis from gynaecologist and abortion provider Dr. Jen Gunter, The Star fact-checked many of Unplanned’s “most controversial claims,” finding very few of them to be grounded in reality.
Notably, Gunter rated the film’s claim that fetuses are capable of intentionally squirming away from catheter tubes, depicted in a critical late-term abortion scene which drives Johnson away from Planned Parenthood, as “100 per cent bullshit” and “just not a thing.” Furthermore, Texas Monthly has disputed that this grotesque scene even happened at all.
Produced on a budget of $6 million, Unplanned is an amateurish effort in almost every facet. Its cinematography and editing are often noticeably subpar, with multiple ghastly digital zooms and awkward focusing errors present. In many spots, editor Parker Adams has added lightning-quick cuts in totally inappropriate places, causing a jarring effect.
The acting is inconsistent and, at best, second-rate. Bratcher’s performance falters as her character converts to anti-abortionism. This transition happens without a hint of self-doubt in her character, and she starts delivering the evangelical rhetoric quicker than you can say “complete one-eighty.”
Unplanned finds its nadir in the performances of Johnson’s family members. For a film about such a fiery and contentious topic, its actors all-too-often possess the fervent vehemence of a cotton ball.
Still worse, the story is a desultory yarn woven from cheap cotton. Unplanned chugs along at the speed of a malfunctioning record player, shifting humourlessly from scenes of balls-to-the-wall excruciation to long stretches of recursive inactivity. Only when a silly lawyer is introduced in the third act does the film even hint at something resembling lightheartedness, although most of the amusement comes at the expense of this ridiculous caricature of a character.
Maligned structural elements aside, the story of Unplanned is problematic in every moral aspect. How can a film with so many inaccuracies be endorsed by the vice president of the United States, in any rational landscape?
Unplanned would have you believe that it is a guide to salvation, but it stumbles endlessly in its technical execution and in its aversion to the truth. It is a weaponized shrine to nefarious motives, aimed squarely at reinforcing the beliefs of those who wish to demonize the notion of female reproductive rights.
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Feature image by Tim Austen.
