Quiet but Powerful: Watching “A Quiet Place” as a Pro-Life Catholic

I finally watched “A Quiet Place” last night. I had heard good things about it, especially from a Catholic/pro-life perspective, but I am not a fan of horror movies – in fact, I don’t watch even the trailers for horror movies – so I wasn’t planning on watching it. However, I’d heard from a couple of people who also don’t like horror movies that they enjoyed it. So last night, I sat on the couch next to my boyfriend, hand ready to grab his when I needed something to hold, and watched it. And I am so glad I did.

First of all, I would not classify this movie as a horror movie, at least not in the way I think of horror movies. I didn’t feel that adrenaline rush of fear that so many people seem to crave but that I tend to avoid. It wasn’t a happy movie, certainly, and it was suspenseful, and there were frightening monsters. But I found the movie more thought-provoking than fear-provoking.

Frankly, I’m surprised that “A Quiet Place” made it to the big screen, considering how Christian its values were. This movie was pro-family, pro-God, and pro-life. The family prays before they eat. In a world where the smallest noise is a death sentence, they chose to continue a pregnancy (and pregnancies always end with noise). The parents are fierce – fiercely in love with each other, fiercely protective of their children, and fiercely defiant of the odds.

In addition to the more obvious pro-life thread of the mother’s pregnancy, “A Quiet Place” also emphasized the value of every human person – adult, toddler, fetus or disabled child. The oldest child is deaf, and the movie does not shy away from demonstrating the very real challenges that deafness presents. It also (spoiler alert!) ends up being the child’s deafness that saves the day.

Not every person is a superhero who saves her family from monsters. Not every aspect of a disability can be turned into an advantage. But, this movie shows, that’s besides the point. Each person has an inherent value, meaning that no one has to contribute anything extraordinary to have worth. We should, of course, try our best to be heroes. But at the end of the day, life matters – no matter what.