A Review with a Spoiler by Fr. James DiLuzio CSP

I finally got to watch “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret? the film based on the best-selling Judy Blume mini-novel. I am glad I did. In its honest and humbling depiction of giggling girlhood angst (When will I develop breasts and begin menstruation? Does this make me fully a woman? Will I ever be kissed?), “Are You There, God?” offers an authentic sampling of a faith journey rooted in a secular context. No matter your age, faith, or cultural background, you’ll enjoy this slice of 1970 America, joining Margaret’s quest for friends, family, hope, and love at your local movie theater, or, if you prefer, on your streaming service to rent or purchase.

Here’s the set-up: Barbara and Herb Simon have reared twelve-year-old Margaret in an anti-religion household. Nevertheless, Margaret starts a natural, open, intimate conversation with God onscreen. She asks all the essential questions:

• God, if you exist, who are you? Where are you?
• Are you only in my mind?
• What does a relationship with You mean?
• Do I have to have a religion to keep this relationship going?”

I find it refreshing that the producers decided to translate Bloom’s book into film because “God inquiries” are perennial, engaging every human in various stages of life. And, as with all human endeavors, faith’s progression often engages us in familial, social, and emotional altercations. So, too, Margaret’s search comes into conflict with family members’ religious identities (or lack thereof) and contrasting beliefs. Viewers may wince when Margaret’s parents and grandparents – a paternal Jewish grandmother, and a maternal Christian couple – engage in an angry dispute over Margaret’s soul and identity. The scene offers a sad but realistic depiction of a major flaw in religiosity.

The conflict emerges with the sudden appearance of Barbara’s parents – a Christian couple in an unidentified denomination, who disowned their daughter for marrying a Jewish man. Eschewing their daughter’s wedding, they arrived after a fifteen-year absence indulging their fears that Margaret will not enter heaven if she is not baptized. A screaming match ensues when Herb’s mother Margaret insists that her granddaughter already embraces her Jewish heritage. Herb and Barbara disagree: “This is why we have no religion in this house!” In response to the uproar, Margaret storms out of the room and declares “I hate you all. I do not even believe in God!” The scene presents religious affiliation in the negative, and people of faith may feel despondent, but thankfully, the film does not end here. Evidence of a deeper response to faith, although succinct in its presentation, will be forthcoming in Act Three.

In terms of Movie-Making, the acting is fine throughout, especially the young Abby Ryder Fortson as Margaret, the ever-luminous Rachel McAdams as her mother, Barbara Simon, and Kathy Bates whose convictions, manipulations, and pizzaz as grandma Sylvia Simon are irresistible. What’s more, the young actors portraying Margaret’s 12-year-old friends come across as natural and engaging — perhaps Director and Screenwriter Kelly Fremon Craig’s finest achievement. But Craig works well with the entire ensemble. She sustains a breezy pace, and appropriately keeps the focus on Margaret and the kids, while not ignoring the formidable relationships Margaret has with her mom and grandmother Sylvia.

Overall, the script is solid and faithful to the book’s spirit, but Craig could have expanded the supporting roles to bring more subtext and weight to the proceedings. As is, Margaret’s dad played by Benny Safdie isn’t given much to do, and Barbara’s parents as written and portrayed couldn’t be blander! With no balance in the grandparent drama, feisty Jewish Grandma shines in contrast to the dull Christian relations making the contest of wills less effective than it should have been. Now, on to Act Three! Spoiler Alert!Now, on to Act Three! Spoiler Alert!

In the weeks that follow, Margaret navigates her troubled existence by using her hurt to become more sensitive to an ostracized classmate. What is more, she befriends the girl without her other girlfriends’ approval. Soon afterward, she propitiously enjoys some longed-for attention from the boy-next-store, and suddenly, in answer to her prayers, experiences her first menstruation. She has matured! With that, Margaret acknowledges she is loved and can offer love. Interestingly how that realization arrives when people implicitly accept the fact that the human body is “good.” Happily, ARE YOU THERE, GOD, IT’S ME, MARGARET concludes with our hero offering these words: “Thank you, God.” 

This conclusion offers good theology, indeed. However we may understand God, whatever stories, doctrines, and commandments nurture our relationship with God and others, gratitude is at the heart of a healthy faith life — the unresolved, unreconcilable issues among grandparents (and others) notwithstanding. Self-acceptance, belonging, peace, and goodwill toward others is every faith’s goal – both as an empirical experience in the here and now, and, as in many faith traditions, a promise of fulfillment “beyond the grave.”

I trust that viewers will see that while ARE YOU THERE, God? IT’S ME MARGARET invites us to guard against the shadow of religion (i.e., “My faith empowers me to lord it over you, to make you more like me, to diminish your human dignity, deny our common humanity“), it encourages us to embrace the true aspirations of all major religions: Love as one for all, and all for one.  In religious language: “The God in whom we live, and move, and have our being is Love Itself — Live in Love’s Embrace!”

Let me know what you think!