“I’m Not Ashamed” is a tremendous film, based on the tragic but faith-filled story of Rachel Joy Scott, who died during the violent Columbine High School shooting in 1999. Masey McLain is phenomenal as Rachel. She brings joy to the part, along with a serious-minded faith. She plays the role and the struggles of her character very well. In the film, Rachel struggles with wanting to fit in with the partying crowd and liking a young man who does not share her faith. However, she always turns back to God and returns to church after her brief moments of doubt. Her generous spirit leads her to help out a homeless young man named Nate (Ben Davies), who becomes a big brother figure to her and joins her in her Christian faith.

Rachel helps those who are considered underdogs and even forgives a girl who winds up with the boy Rachel liked, after the boy cheated on Rachel with her. Despite the mocking of two “unusual” boys who like violent video games and spurn Rachel’s speech in class on “compassion,” Rachel marches forward, undeterred.

The handling of the violence is fairly tame and seems to feature true footage along with reenactments. Rachel does not deny her faith but speaks up for God when the killers ask her if she still believes in Jesus. The film includes a scene of a boy with blood and gunshot holes on his T-shirt as he lies dead. Due to several scenes of underage drinking and smoking we are awarding the film our “Faith-Based” Seal, meaning it has a faith message but contains some objectionable material. The message of the film is clear: Rachel followed Christ to the point of death, and her life story has touched millions of people. Not long before she died, Rachel drew a picture of an eye crying 13 tears. Thirteen people died as a result of the Columbine shooting, including 12 students and one teacher. She also drew an outline of her hands as a child in her bedroom and wrote that one day she would touch millions of lives. She did.