Raise Your Voice

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—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections

Raise your Voice is a rip-snorting, fast-moving, young-teen paced movie. This movie made me realize the fast pace our society moves in. I’m in my 40’s and don’t watch a lot of T.V. This movie was paced so quickly I had to stay on the edge of my seat to stick with it.

For the target market, kids aged 10 to 17, it is a great movie. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard anyone cheer at the end of a movie! The target demographic loved it! It has an attractive young star in Hilary Duff. It has music that is actually creative and high quality. There is a little bit of everything from classical to jazz to even, say, Hilary Duff songs. Whaddya know about that?

The music in this film was fantastic. The kinetic performances of the musicians were very infectious. I grew up in music programs throughout my school career. This was a pretty accurate depiction of the personalities and dynamics at play.

But the film also says some deep things to kids and parents alike. A strong theme from the film: Your strength comes from outside of yourself. Terri is a very spiritual person. At times of great stress she calls upon God. At one point she sings, “someone’s watching over me.�

But for me, the best part was the wholesomeness of the Fletcher family. Hilary Duff’s character, Terri Fletcher, actually comes from a family that goes to church, loves each other, has realistic problems—and yet the parents are respected. Not always obeyed, but respected.

Terri is a “good� girl. Her positive attitude and self-worth protect her from the pettiness of her new classmates, and eventually they are won over. She obviously derives strength from her faith, and her friendships. This ability comes from an already strong legacy started by her parents and extended family.

Terri’s good upbringing seems to give her a leg up in the adult world. She is thrust into a competitive school with prima donna artists who try to snub her as soon as she walks in the door. She is apparently unfazed by this and I felt her reaction to the various difficulties she faced were due to her self respect. This self respect came from her loving family life.

Adults will like and learn from Raise Your Voice, too. It is by and large a wholesome movie, neither preachy nor improbable. The families are fairly normal and the challenges the characters face are realistic. Raise Your Voice does a good job of handling the delicate and inexact science of turning your children loose in the world. When personal tragedy strikes, the family rallies around each other—and amidst the mourning, they begin the slow crawl back to normalcy. Again, I couldn’t help but be grateful for the depiction of the internal strength of Terri and her family. Terri is actually a good girl who changes those around her instead of the reverse.

Following your heart is a recurring theme in film. Hilary Duff sings about it. The film is also about doing your best, excelling in your talents and passions. What this film does best, though, is show that doing your best gets a great boost from a combination of faith, family, and friends. Only in this context do you truly have the freedom to be yourself.

Continue:
—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections