"Not Today": Now in Theaters
Traveling with friends who abandon him when he passes out in a drunken stupor, Caden promises aid to the starving man and little girl who help him. Initially, Caden fails to make good on his word. But haunted by his conscience, he finally determines to do right, only to discover it's too late. His neglect brings him face-to-face with people at the bottom of India's caste system and human trafficking.
NOT TODAY was filmed on location with well-done visuals and musical underscoring. The acting is decent—it stars Cody Longo, Shari Rigby (October Baby), John Schneider (Dukes of Hazzard) and Walid Amini. In places, the plot has some gaps in logic, and the script has a few weaknesses, including Christian clichés. But a real strength of this film is in its contrasting American wealth, materialism, and arrogance with the desperation felt by much of the world. NOT TODAY especially challenges the assumption that the poor bring poverty on themselves because of their unwillingness to work. Even more than that, it touches on an important reality, human trafficking, which happens everywhere—including America—putting a human face on the true crisis of modern slavery. Viewers leave with hope, and a way to make a difference, one person at a time.