NO. Just NO.
Inaccuracies? Yes. Untruths in the form of Xtian deceitful propaganda wrapped up in a pristine teenage ABC Family bubble gum wrapper all with the intent to elevate Rachel as some angelic, pious christian saint and martyr while simultaneously reducing Dylan and Eric to simplistic, repugnant evil villains. You immediately catch the drift that she’s our ‘sunshine heroine’ and they are the pat ‘bad guys’. I get the sense she’s like every other cardboard cut out fresh faced teenage tv show heroine and sort of reminds me of Elena from Vampire Diaries. Based on the new trailer, this movie stunningly seems to miss it’s own message (!): that Dylan and Eric are the beginning cycle of Rachel’s end and what can happen when people are not treated with kindness and compassion or made to feel included. A little bit of random acts of kindness could have gone a long way with even these two boys (in addition to that special ed. student they showcase in the film) and yet these boys can only be used as one-dimensional antagonists and nothing more for the plot device. Rachel’s message should merely underscore in the wake of the tragedy, what must now begin to be done to remedy the situation after the tragedy has occurred by way of her death – at the start, the first domino – that went down and flicked down all twelve in her wake. Instead the boys are portrayed committing acts they never did to Rachel all for the dramatic shock value with a sole agenda to reduce them to born-rotten fiends that seem to be exempt from the potentiality of benefiting from Rachel’s tenets of kindness and compassion. Eric and Dylan are the catalyst that made Rachel’s legacy what it became / is – but we cannot forget that they are the very reason her message is being spread and yet, that’s happily what this movies seems to do all to propel it’s Xtian faith agenda. So, when you say ‘doesn’t seem THAT bad to me’ – I would say, compared to what? Seems bad enough. I mean, the way they’re rewriting it into a fictionalized account they may as well had made up characters and a different school and had it as teen series show that comes on after ‘Pretty Little Liars’.
Incidentally…Devon Adams cut Rachel’s hair super short for ‘The Smoke in the Room’ play she did early April and so there would be no way for Eric to have grabbed her by her hair and yanked her head up by her long mane yet this movie melodramatically does just that so they can make sure to get in that most vile line “do you believe in God?’ In the name of religion and the fact that this scene is a flat out lie? Now that, to me, is perverse.
The Everlasting Contrast 