Secrets in the Snow

This is a faith based film, but the themes that go back and forth through the film are universal. The acting is much better than many of the "Christian films". And it isn't preachy much in a religious sense.

The strongest theme is bonding in adversity which comes from the fact that we all share humanity together. Teens in the movie deal with issues that most teens deal with including materialism, popularity, poor self image, body weight and a sense of being ignored by family. One nice thing the movie does is that flaws are revealed in every character including the jock and the goody-goody Christian and even the grown up teacher. But everyone learns that life is better when shared and people accept one another.

In a world that grows more divided every year, it is good to see a story where barriers are broken down.

There are some mild teen antics, backed up with lively music. There is fun in the movie, but the hook is definitely more a case of being a study of real life issues.

I really question some of the logistics that set the story up. Maybe the school administration would go to far in "protecting" the kids from driving, but I can't believe they would risk having students stranded and they certainly would not leave one lone teacher with the students at any time. That runs too much risk of accusations against the teacher. And certainly a town would be able to find all weather vehicles that could rescue the kids.

Yet the movie's characters have strong arcs and the screenplay is very solid. It's harrowing, harmless teenage fun and you could do a whole lot worse.

It's fairly obvious that the inspiration for Secrets In The Snow is taken from The Breakfast Club. However John Hughes never put in the religious overtones in any of his films. I doubt that any of these characters would have been seen in any of his works. But as this is a Christian movie there are parameters.

Not as edgy as the Breakfast Club because we sure don't have a tough guy like Judd Nelson or one thinking of suicide like Anthony Michael Hall. But these are all small town kids stuck in their high school with one of their teachers, they're not in detention for any rules infraction. Just a nice blizzard and with lots of time to spare they tell each other's secrets and bond somewhat.

The most interesting characters are Hollie Shay, the glamorous teen queen of the school who dresses to kill and is a fashion role model. But she's facing some tough economic times ahead and may not have the attitude to deal with it.

The other is Vincent Seidle who is the local rich kid who gets a lot of rich kid toys, but he feels no real love.

They're all not bad kids and the climax is a church service attended by all. In their little white bread world there sure is no diversity. Makes it all unreal.

Still the religion is there, but you're not hit with it with a sledgehammer. I doubt Secrets In The Snow will go beyond Christian audiences.

It's a story about some kids trapped in school during a snow storm. Very breakfast clubesque. Different premises. A great watch with a fun cast. Being from up north, I giggled a bit at their idea of a snow storm but that's okay, they got the freezing part right. Also they stayed in the library when they actually could have kept warm my boiling pots of water since the ages was working. That's how you keep warm in an emergency. Overall I still recommend it for the beautiful story line. If only kids in real life actually thought this way the world would be a better place. Sadly the snobbish kids are pretty mean in real life.

A nice spin off of the breakfast club in today's world