Virtuous

JC Films

On the surface this is a drama about a young woman accused of killing the man who assaulted her. The story involves predictable elements: temptation, ambition, courtroom drama with a last-minute Perry Mason-like discovery — sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. OK, maybe not rock ’n’ roll — it was Christian music that provided the score to the film. And no wonder, since the woman playing the girl on trial is singer-songwriter Brandy Allison.

Erik Estrada, who seems to be popping up in a lot of Christian movies, played a starring role as a lawyer who felt compelled to defend the young woman. While he was the only actor I recognized, the quality of the acting was good, if a little overplayed in spots.

I mentioned the surface, but there was an undercurrent running through the secondary stories involving most of the women in the movie. They had been betrayed in one way or another by men; in most cases, men they should have been able to trust.

From the main character, who was abandoned by her father, to the judge who finally told her abusive alcoholic husband she would no longer be an object of his abuse, they all found the strength to overcome their circumstances through their recognition of themselves as daughters of the King.