Prayers for Bobby

Year: 2009

Actors: Carly Schroeder, Sigourney Weaver, Henry Czerny, Dan Butler

Duration: 90 min

In this fact-based movie, Bobby crosses a bridge while his mother Mary works at a sewing machine.In 1979 in Walnut Grove, California, Bobby's family (portrayed by actors) is having fun in home movies. Then the audience sees the action from the point of view of a regular film camera.While his grandmother won't state her age and doesn't behave all that nicely, Bobby says in another room that it is the 39th time she has celebrated her 39th birthday. One of the presents she rejects is a journal. This makes Joy run out of the room but Bobby tells his sister he will take the journal. He is an aspiring writer and this will give him lots of opportunities to record his thoughts and his life. As he says later in the movie, others will be able to read about him when he is gone.Mary is very religious, which is made clear from the start, and she tries to teach her family to believe as she does.While on a date with Michelle, Bobby doesn't feel the desire to go any further, and Michelle feels rejected.One day at school, Bobby realizes he is attracted to a boy, and he feels disappointment that this boy has a girlfriend.While walking on the railroad tracks with brother Ed, Bobby reluctantly admits the truth about himself. Ed gives the impression he won't tell.However, Ed picks up his mother and feels obligated to say something. Mary first denies that Bobby could be gay.Mary tells Bobby he can be cured and that God can be trusted to bring him back. Bobby starts finding inspirational messages taped all over the house. At school, Bobby is bullied but Ed can't explain how others found out.Feeling betrayed, Bobby moves out of his brother's room. Later he takes over the attic.Bobby goes to therapy. With a lot of work and determination, the therapist thinks it is possible to cure Bobby but tells Mary he must be willing to make the change. Later the therapist meets with both parents. Bobby's father Bob seems less enthusiastic about changing Bobby than Mary, who is determined to make sure her son doesn't go to Hell.Mary answers the door one night and sees boys dressed for "Rocky Horror Picture Show". She criticizes him for letting deviants enter his house but Bobby goes with his friends.Mary sets Bobby up with the beautiful Sheila and they go to a dance. This doesn't help and Bobby stays out late.Maybe more time with his father is the answer. Bobby, Bob and Ed go for a hike in the woods. Bob tells Bobby to start thinking about college and give up on the idea of making a living as a writer.Bobby attends a youth group where a girl tells how much better her life is after accepting Jesus, but it doesn't help.One day Bobby picks up his mother, who is spending time with her friends but seems ashamed to let them meet him. He gives her the keys to his late 50s Rambler American and says he will walk home. Bobby goes inside a bar with name "Armory" where there are only men, some tough-looking. Bobby meets one of them but doesn't feel comfortable with him. Then he leaves and sees the Metropolitan Community Church, which has a sign outside that say it welcomes gays. To his mother's dismay Bobby arrives home late again but assures her, angrily, that he was in church.Bobby's cousin Jeanette from Portland, Oregon visits. She is surprised at how Bobby's family has reacted. She invites Bobby to come to Portland for the summer. There, Bobby finds a culture that is more accepting than what he is used to.Bobby, who has dropped out of school, eventually decides to move to Portland and get a job. Bobby is shown in a uniform pushing an elderly woman in a wheelchair in a really depressing hallway.Bobby meets David, who is gay and very nice, and they start a relationship. When he meets David's parents, Bobby feels accepted. Eventually, David is not there when Bobby calls and Bobby sees him with someone else.Bobby sends his mother a book explaining to parents what is like to have a child who is gay. Having heard about the new disease AIDS on the news, Mary sends him information about it, which calls the disease "God's wrath."Feeling unable to cope any more, Bobby parks his Rambler next to a bridge starts crossing. the audience sees flashbacks of his life, some of them very quickly, with a lot of negative messages. Bobby jumps onto the road below.Joy answers the phone and is very upset. She yells at sister Nancy to go away. Bob takes the phone. Then he goes to the warehouse where Mary works and tells her the news. She too is very upset. Ed learns the news while in a football uniform and goes out onto the field yelling.At the funeral, the minister says Bobby strayed and was lost. The family does not find this message comforting. At home, they are trying to cope. Mary asks Bobby's grandmother if it is possible Bobby still went to Heaven, but the grandmother can't answer. David shows up and offers condolences. Mary shakes his hand reluctantly.Mary is so relieved when Bobby shows up. Then she wakes up and realizes it was a dream.The family continue to grieve, especially Mary. Two ministers come to the house but asked if Bobby could have gone to Heaven, they just remain silent.Bob is frustrated that Mary won't move on. Occasionally for the rest of the movie, Mary writes a letter to or speaks to God.One day Mary finds the journal in the attic and begins to understand more. It makes her cry to read it, but her attitude is beginning to change. In that book Bobby sent her, she finds a bookmark for Metropolitan Community Church. She goes there and meets Rev. Whitsell, who recognizes Bobby when shown a photo but says he didn't attend for long. Mary concludes Bobby felt God couldn't even accept him there. Mary asks Rev. Whitsell how he can ignore what the Bible says. Rev. Whitsell explains what he believes the Bible says about gays, and points out that disobeying parents is just as bad according to Leviticus, and tries to explain Sodom and Gomorrah. Mary criticizes Rev. Whitsell for believing just the parts of the Bible that he wants to, and he invites her to come back if she can ask questions without trying to blame him. Mary visits the church several more times asking questions, one of those times at night in the rain.Betty Lambert, whose son came out as a teenager, visits Mary and says she always knew. Mary did not know, though she later realizes maybe she did. Betty invites Mary to a PFLAG meeting where others in her situation support each other and tell their stories. Mary later attends reluctantly.Convinced that Bobby could not change who he was, Mary begins working to help others in her situation. When the Walnut Grove city council debates a Gay Pride celebration, she attends and hears people with the same narrow-minded attitude she had. Mary is the last speaker and she makes the same statements, though she is wearing the PFLAG symbol and is quickly becomes clear she is just stating her former beliefs.Then the family attends a major Gay Pride celebration in San Francisco. Mary and the family march. Mary sees Bobby and hugs him, but it's just a stranger.The audience sees the real Mary and a description of what she did in her life to help gays and their families, including testifying before Congress.

Genre: Action   Biography   Drama   Romance