Le Pacte de grossesse

In 2008, a media firestorm showcases the rash of teenage pregnancies in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Three months before, internet blogger Sidney Bloom (Thora Birch) returns to her high school alma mater to report on a suspected story on teen pregnancies. Everybody is ignoring the situation except nurse Kim Daly (Camryn Manheim). She is powerless to institute changes. Lorraine Dougan (Nancy Travis) leads the conservative locals and her daughter Sara has been trying to get pregnant to fit in with her friends.

The story is ripped from the headlines. It's one of those Lifetime movies but I rather they fictionalize the whole thing to add more drama. Some of these girls are good actors but the characters are too annoying. The story has too many elements of a bad movie-of-the-week. There could be an interesting movie from this material. I like some actors but they don't add up to a great movie.

There is a saying that no one is really ever ready to have a baby. While that is true to an extent a young girl is never ready to have a baby. This movie follows the lives of a group of girls who made a pact to have a baby. It shows the true reality of some people out there. The educational system and sometimes families don't prepare children about being safe. Whatever the reason is whether it be religion or something else the schools and home don't speak about sex. We follow a woman who goes back to the town she grew up in and tries to seek the truth about what is going on with these girls and why there is such a high rate of pregnancies. The girls learn the hard way that it's not as "fun" being pregnant and trying to live their lives. They make poor choices that result in consequences.

I don't know the complete facts upon which this movie is based. All I know is what was splattered across the cable media and other concerning teen pregnancy spike in Gloucester Massachusetts. While the story is considered fiction based on true events, unplanned teen pregnancy in the United States has always been an issue going back to at least the 1970s. I generally thought the film was well acted especially by the young teen girls. When the phrase 'Pregnancy Pact' is used one gets the vision of the girls stacking their hands up high and saying "All For One, One For All", sort of like Alexander Dumas 'The Three Musketeers'. I just found it humorous. Since ABC doesn't do Afterschool Specials anymore, Lifetime has picked up the task and this film has all the feel of a traditional afterschool special.

I cannot believe that I wasted time watching this. I kept waiting for it to get better, or even to make some sense. I'm afraid this could be a career-killer for some talented people who obviously needed a paycheck.

The only valuable lesson is that religion-driven communities tend to be so complacent and smug that instead of embracing their children and building family values, they actually just set them adrift in life with absolutely no clues about sex/sexuality (with or without birth control), career and family life, or the nitty-gritty facts about pregnancy and parenthood (with or without abortion).

It would be all to easy to get into socio-political issues here, but to refocus on the movie, it's sufficient to say that it's poorly plotted, badly written, photographed to mediocre TV standards, and features boring, bad music. And is it really possible for someone to actually earn a full-time living as a blogger? I always thought it was a hobby for the socially inept or a part-time business activity like a customer newsletter. Just as it would be bad to present teenage pregnancy as appealing, I think it's misleading to present a part-time activity as a true career opportunity.

Anyway, next time I will be sure to pass up a Lifetime movie for a rerun of Criminal Minds or NCIS (or Two and a Half Men, for that matter).

I guess you have to live in or near Gloucester for this movie to be interesting, or have an interest in local politics for at least. All throughout this movie I sat with an empty feeling and sort of not really caring, because the events in the movie seemed stupid and didn't appeal to my interest in any way.

The story is about teenagers apparently making a pact for them all to become pregnant and have children about the same time, so their children can grow up together, play together and become best friends, like the teenage girls themselves are. But being teenagers, they are not aware of the consequences and hard work being pregnant and having a child is. And the toll the consequences have on their families and the ripples in society of living in a small community.

Some of these teenagers have little respect for themselves or their pregnancy, as they smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol. Plus their whole attitude to the situation was just infuriating. And the movie is based on real events, which can only make you think why some people are that ignorant. But, as I started out with saying, this appealed little to me, because I live nowhere near where this allegedly took place.

As for the acting in the movie, well, people did adequate jobs, but I can't really say that any particular performance stood out. It was fairly blend and mediocre.

I am sure that this movie have appeal for an audience who have an interest in events such as those portrayed in the movie. But for those of us who watch movies for a solely entertainment purpose, then "Pregnancy Pact" offers very little.