Review: 'Unsung Hero' is an earnest and humane telling of a family's faith and togetherness — and how they paid off in the Christian music scene
Like many of the Christian-centered movies produced by brothers Andrew and Jon Erwin — a list that includes “I Still Believe,” “American Underdog,” “Jesus Revolution” and “Ordinary Angels” — the family drama “Unsung Hero” is based on a true story and captures people at a point where faith and family pull them through tough times.
What makes these movies fascinating isn’t the faith part — that’s a given in these movies — but the specific ways family comes through as the ultimate expression of love.
If this all feels too cloying and sentimental for your tastes, you can find your entertainment elsewhere. It’s not all my cup of tea sometimes, either, but I recognize when it’s being done with heart and sincerity.
People familiar with the Christian music scene — this movie’s target audience — likely know where this movie is going. It’s the origin story of Christian singing star Rebecca St. James, and of her brothers Joel and Luke Smallbone, better known as the Christian pop duo For King & Country. (The marketing, including the poster labeling this as “A For King & Country Film,” spoiled it before I did.)
The movie tells of the Smallbone family, parents David (Joel Smallbone of For King & Country, the movie’s co-director, plays his own father) and Helen (Daisy Betts) and their six children. When we first meet the family in 1991, David is a Christian concert promoter in Australia, eager to make the big time by booking the American star Amy Grant for a tour of Australia. He does so, in the midst of an economic depression, and the effort leaves him and his family deeply in debt.
Their one hope, David convinces Helen, is to take the family to the States so he can represent a Christian musician there. So the family packs up and moves to Tennessee, only to find the musician has signed with his old manager (Don Most), leaving David with no way to provide for his family. Led by Helen, though, the family rallies, taking odd jobs and pooling their dimes and dollars. They’re buoyed by David’s father, James (Terry O’Quinn), back in Australia, who reminds David that “family’s not in the way — they are the way.”
The family receives help from a couple they meet at church, Jed (Lucas Black), a songwriter in Nashville, and his wife, Kay (Candace Cameron Bure). Their charity is much appreciated by the Smallbones — though, after a while, David finds his pride is wounded and he starts to get irritated at their generosity.
By chance, the Smallbones also meet record producer Eddie Degarmo (Jonathan Jackson), who remembers David from his Australian promoter days. He recognizes that David is driven to work and support his family. Degarmo also recognizes, thanks to a tip from Jed, that the Smallbones’ eldest daughter, Rebecca (Kirrilee Berger), has an amazing singing voice and could become a star.
Joel Smallbone and co-director Richard Ramsey (they also wrote the screenplay) make the family story a celebration of a big, rambunctious family finding strength in each other. And, as the title “Unsung Hero” implies, there’s one among them carrying the biggest load — Helen, and Betts brings out the quiet dignity and no-nonsense grit she must have showed to get the family through hard times..
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‘Unsung Hero’
★★★
Opens Friday, April 26, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG for thematic elements. Running time: 112 minutes.