4-Star Review of "The Drop Box"

Review of The Drop Box

by Brian Ivie

Brian Ivie was filled with compassion as he read an LA Times article about Pastor Lee’s solution to unwanted newborns in South Korea—a baby drop box. Brian traveled halfway around the world to film the documentary The Drop Box. But God had even bigger plans. For in the midst of filming the plight of these abandoned and forgotten children, Brian realized his own spiritual brokenness.

At its heart, this is a story of spiritual orphans—young and old—discovering their true identity as children of God.

MY REVIEW:  Can you imagine an actual box lined with blankets outside a home with a bell that alerts the inhabitants of the addition of a baby?  An actual live infant?   Such a thing actually does exist for a home in South Korea.  The drop box provides a safe place for people to place unwanted, deformed babies.  Pastor Lee and his wife provides a home and love for these babies.  Brian Ivie was a young, ambitious film student in Southern California who read the story of the drop box and saw it as a possible way to stardom for himself.   He was sure that filming a documentary about this incredible place would win a major award for him.  So he raised the money through donations and he went to South Korea.   

       But he got more than he expected.   He found God in every aspect of the filming and the drop box and in especially in Pastor Lee.  Brian thought he was a Christian before he made the trip but he learned that he had been faking it through and what he found was salvation and love.  He found love that knows no end.  Love that does not see outward beauty but sees to the soul of humans instead.  He found God.  

       This was an incredible story and an incredible book.  I wish I could see pictures of the orphanage and the infants though.  Brian talks about making the film and I had wanted to see the movie and that is what motivated me to read this book.  I still want to see the movie.  The book is an easy read.   I read it from start to finish in one sitting without stopping.  Readers will likely also find this book fascinating.  It is a true story of God's love and how one young man came to find it.  

       I rate this book 4 stars and highly recommend it to readers.

       I received a pdf version of this book from netgalley in exchange for my honest review.   All opinions are my own.  

About the Author:

Brian became a Christian while making a movie. He is the award-winning director of "The Drop Box" and founder of Arbella Studios. Brian recently graduated from The Bryan Singer Division of Critical Studies at USC's School of Cinematic Arts, and hails from sunny San Clemente, California. He is a published film critic, recreational songwriter, and was the only white male in the Saved By Grace Gospel Choir. If Brian were to get a tattoo it would be Galatians 5:1 or Hebrews 2:11. Currently, he is traveling around the US capturing stories of "The Jesus Freaks" of 1968.