Man on a Ledge: Movie Review

By Stacey Tuttle

Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) was convicted of a crime that he said he didn’t commit.  Now he’s going to extremes to defend his innocence.  He’s on a ledge, threatening to jump to his death, and he asks for a particular police psychologist to handle his case, Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks). 

Lydia didn’t seem like the logical choice.  In fact, she was famous for just having lost a jumper.  In other words, she was recently assigned to talk a suicide jumper down from his jump, but she failed…and he died.  It was particularly painful because she thought she had it.  Why on earth would Nick want to request Lydia to talk to, when she was known as a failure?

Nick chose her for two reasons.  First off, Lydia could identify with him.  She had been in his shoes.  He tells her, “You know what it’s like to have everyone turn their backs on you, even those closest to you.”  The other reason Nick wanted her is that she never gave up on the last jumper.  In fact, her shift was up and she was expected to pass the jumper off to another psychologist, but Lydia requested to stay on.  Nick wanted someone in his corner who wouldn’t quit him.

Nick was looking for two key things: someone who could identify with him and someone who would stick by him, even when nothing made sense. 

 Ultimately, I think this is what we are all looking for.  We want to find these qualities in our friends, our families, our spouses.  And, whether or not we realize it, we are looking for the same thing in God.  Or at least if we aren’t looking for it, we still need it. 

This is the beauty of Jesus.  He is God incarnate, God made flesh.  He has been tempted in every way that we are.  There is nothing about us that He does not identify with.  He definitely knows what it’s like to have everyone turn their backs on Him.

Not only can Jesus identify with every aspect of our lives, but He surely won’t quit us.  He is love, and “love is patient and…kind…[and] keeps no record of wrongs…[and] always protects, always trusts, always hopes [and] always perseveres.  Love never fails”[1] (emphasis added).  In other words, Jesus never gives up on us. 

Is there something in your life where you need to know you have someone in your corner who won’t give up on you?  Are you like Nick, trying to defend yourself against false accusations?  Or are the accusations true, and you need someone to help you change?  It doesn’t matter.  Jesus understands.  He knows where you are coming from.  You can trust His love to protect you, hope for you, to persevere with you.  He will be patient with you.  He will never quit you. 

Oh what a friend we have in Jesus!

Questions for Discussion:

• If you were in Nick’s shoes, trying to defend your innocence and your life, who would you want in your corner?  Do you have friends in your life who you know would stand by you, believe in you, and understand you?
• At what times have you felt that everyone else turned their backs on you?  Were you falsely accused, like Nick?  Or was it because of something you did, and possibly kept doing?
• Do you believe that Jesus really can identify with every area of your life?
• Do you trust that Jesus really does love you with the kind of love mentioned in I Corinthians 13?  (“Love is patient and…kind…[and] keeps no record of wrongs…[and] always protects, always trusts, always hopes [and] always perseveres.  Love never fails.”)
• How would your life be transformed if you felt loved by that kind of love?
• How would your life be transformed if you could love others with that kind of love?

Click here to see a compilation of quotes from Man on a Ledge.