Some twenty years earlier the movie Heaven Help Us came out and it was to Catholic schools what Saved is to Protestant ones. Both were well received by the generations of movie goers who saw them in first run at theaters.

Young Jena Malone gets a double dose of trauma in her life. First her boyfriend Chad Faust confesses he's gay to her. In the Christian school they go to that's a ticket to exile or at least to one of those reorientation centers.

But then Jena nearly drowns during swimming and as she's in the pool with her life supposed to be flashing before her eyes, she gets a vision of Jesus who commands her to sacrifice her virginity in order to save Chad from the horrible sin of homosexuality.

That sacrifice turns out to be quite costly as a memento of the event is left behind. Jena tries mightily to get through that senior year before being discovered. Especially with Mandy Moore who's the self appointed head of the virtue police.

The cast of Saved is young and appealing, but when Mandy Moore as Hillary Faye is on the screen she steals the film completely. She's a modern version of the porcelain goddess that Cary Grant talked about in The Philadelphia Story. Ms. Moore succeeds both in being hateful, but yet you feel sorry for her because this virtue police is her whole empty life.

About three years ago I was vacationing in San Antonio and one morning in front of The Alamo I and others were greeted by about fifty young people from a local Christian school. They were out there on school time and under school supervision giving out religious tracts, being trained as young evangelists. They were earnest and bright eyed and sought to engage me in some religious dialog which I fended off. I thought about the movie Saved at that point because I KNEW that somewhere in that group there were a few Mandy Moores. And I was even more certain that there was at least one Chad Faust who while giving out his tracts was dealing with some unwanted feelings for the same gender.

Let's say that it works out a lot better for all concerned in this film than it does for a lot of the Chad Fausts in real life. Saved is an entertaining film with some valuable lessons to be learned watching it.

Mary (Jena Malone) has been a good Christian since she was born again at the age of 3. When her boyfriend Dean tells her that he is gay, she is shocked and tries to save him by going all the way. Dean is sent away anyways. Her friend Hilary Faye (Mandy Moore) is a fundamentalist Christian with handicap brother Roland (Macaulay Culkin). Cassandra (Eva Amurri Martino) is the only Jew in the Christian school. When Mary becomes pregnant, she starts to question God and is shunned by everybody except for the few outcasts.

This satire takes a lot of jabs at the religious fundamentalists. The sharp jabs can be very wild and flailing. Some of it nudges the funny bone a little, but none of comes off as big laughs. The young actors are very compelling and interesting. Everybody is great although Mandy Moore is overly ridiculous. This movie has too many axes to grind and not enough funny jokes. At least, I like all the great young actors.

In a Christian school, the fanatic and wealthy Hilary Faye (Mandy Moore) and Mary (Jena Malone) are best friends. Their friendship ends when Mary gets pregnant, after having sex with her gay boy-friend trying to "save" him, and questions Jesus' will. Meanwhile, the rebel Jewish Cassandra (Eva Amurri) dates Hillary's brother, the crippled Roland (Macaulay Culkin),and together with the newcomer son of the local pastor, Patrick (Patrick Fugit),they become the new friends of Mary, supporting her situation.

My expectations with "Saved!" were not good. The awful Brazilian title gave me the wrong idea of another silly teen movie, a sort of "American Pie". But I was absolutely wrong: "Saved!" is a delightful and sharp tale of friendship, love, tolerance, fanaticism for religion and hypocrisy. This dramatic comedy has many great lines, and I personally loved the discussion in the prom, when Mary questions the pastor and says that if Jesus wanted all of us equal, why made people so different? The young cast is a dream for any independent director, supported by the awesome Martin Donovan and Mary-Louise Parker, whose resemblance with Jena Malone is amazing. I highly recommend this movie for those that expect a fresh view and criticism of religion. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Galera do Mal"("Gang of Evil")