The Journey Back
When Maggie (Ali Faulkner) was just a small child she was adopted by Jenny Sirron (Janine Turner) and her husband and all was well until at the age of 18 her adoptive father died leaving a huge void in Maggie's life. In need of answers she ran away in search of her birth mother only to end up working the streets for a pimp after her birth mother rejected her. As she is robbed of all her dignity Maggie has a moment in a hotel room where she picks up a bible and discovers God wants more for her than the life she is living and so she runs away, trying to make it back home to Jenny. Along the way she encounters kindness from strangers none more so from Grace (Sheran Goodspeed Keyton) a homeless woman who lives each day with the happiness only God can bring and who along with some of her homeless friends set out to help Maggie not only on her journey home but her journey with God.
It may sound a cliche but you would be surprised how many people reach for the bible when they are at the lowest of the low, seeking some sort of divine inspiration or wisdom in the words which up until then they may have dismissed as just stories that the weak cling on to. And in a way that is what "Maggie's Passage" is all about, the return back to Christianity and the understanding not only that God wants great things for us and that he forgives but also that the trials and tribulations we face help to make us stronger and generate hope. And in fairness "Maggie's Passage" gets this across as we follow Maggie on her journey home and discovering what it means to be loved and forgiven whilst making new friends along the way.
But that brings me to who "Maggie's Passage" is for and this is where some usual problems start to creep in. Now to me this is a movie aimed at those who were once church going Christians who may have become distracted by a non Christian life for a while and now having hit rock bottom are looking for answers and some sort of divine intervention in the mess which their life has become. But whilst Ali Faulkner is attractive and Sheran Goodspeed Keyton exudes warmth the acting is at times incredibly awkward whilst the directing feels like it was hampered by money and time constraints which gives it that lack of gloss which you often get with Christian cinema. But it means that for those who may be in this movie's target audience may struggle with these typical production issues.
What this all boils down to is that "Maggie's Passage" is a movie which certainly has a good message and it is also watchable. But like so many pieces of Christian cinema the production values could end up making it a difficult movie for those who are really its target audience. Although an already Christian audience are likely to enjoy this due to its message.
