Beverly Lewis, author. Michael Landon, Jr., Director. Saving Sarah Cain. 20th Century Fox. 2007. Rated PG (brief teen smoking).

I don’t cry a lot watching movies. This one got to me. The children in this film are almost as impacting as the kids in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Lisa Pepper is great as Sarah Cain. Elliott Gould’s part in the script is not important enough to matter. Tom Tate as Sarah’s boyfriend Brian was good. His only other credit is Beerfest in 2006, a mostly unheard of film. Tess Harper, in my opinion an accomplished actress, has a role about as small as Gould’s.

Most impressing, in fact stunning, was 21-year-old Abigail Mason as Lyddie. I’ve learned that by the time she was 15, she’d done over 20 theatre productions and is currently working on Jake’s Run slated to come out in 2009. Her character Lyddie is what holds the remaining family together after the death of both parents. Raised in a strict Amish tradition in Pennsylvania Dutch country, this innocent but charming young girl comes to life on the screen.

Another heart-capturing character is Hannah played by Bailee Madison, the precocious little May Belle in Bridge to Terabithia .

All of the other children are excellent in this movie. My heart broke for Anna Mae (Danielle Ryan Churchran) trying to fit into the big city school in her Amish garb.

This is a great, inspiring movie to watch with your kids. Teenage girls will suffer along with 15-year-old Lyddie having to leave the boy she loves to move to the city with her Aunt Sarah. They’ll understand the hurt caused by peers who see you as different. Your little boy will try not to cry, watching young Caleb (Soren Fulton) leave his beloved horse, Dobbin, behind when they’re forced to leave their home. They’ll want to run away just like young Josiah (Tanner Maguire), to find his way back to a place where he believes his parents will find him.

Your eyes, like mine, will brim with hot tears watching the flashbacks of Sarah and her sister Ivy as young children, when their lives were so closely intertwined, feeling in your heart how Sarah Cain felt after watching Ivy walk out of her life. As she reads the last words of her sister, the tears will spill over and you will feel happy and sad all at the same time. You’ll breath a deep sigh as they roll the credits. It’s a story you won’t likely forget.

Whether you’re a career girl on the rise or a mom, or both, you’ll remember this story.

You can get the DVD, including “video on demand” from Amazon, see below. I got mine from my public library.



Video on Demand