We need more insight from the young future musicians and less cynicism from the father.
“Unsung Hero” is a Christian drama about the Smallbone family before the eldest daughter would be known professionally as Rebecca St. James and before two of the sons Joel and Luke would become For King & Country. But as well-meaning as it is, there’s too much cynicism to allow us to get acquainted with the family. Half the time, I see some courage and heart, while the other half is negativity, the kind that starts to get on my nerves.
The time and place is Australia, 1991, and we see the family with six kids and one on the way, and the father David (Joel Smallbone, also the co-director and writer) being a struggling music promoter. Due to the financial market, the family is on the verge of losing everything, unless they relocate to America for a better deal. They would have to go through customs and travel from LA to Nashville, via train.
The family has better luck starting a lawn and cleaning service than the old man has at scoring a record deal. He wants to hold the family together, even getting tired of receiving all the kindness and love brought from the considerate church couple-Jed (Lucas Black) and Kay Albright (DJ Tanner herself-Candace Cameron Bure). That’s an example of the cynicism from the father, and it’s too predictable and cliched. I know this is based on a true story, but that doesn’t mean I have to praise certain moments.
Rebecca (Kirrilee Berger) has the voice of an angel, so she could be the family’s saving grace of singers, unless she can thrive over the cynicisms, especially from her own father. He has to give her the speech that she’ll never make it in the business, because the big shots don’t care about her or him or anyone in his family. At the very least, the wife Helen (Daisy Betts) slaps her husband and supports her daughter. And eventually, he comes around and arranges to have Christian recording artist Eddie DeGarmo (Jonathan Jackson from “Nashville”) listen to her singing.
I’ve practically given up on faith-based movies, after suffering through “God’s Not Dead,” but I think they have gotten better these days, coming on the heels of “Breakthrough,” “The Hill,” “Jesus Revolution,” “Cabrini,” and “Ordinary Angels.” Maybe faith is able to overpower cynicism or there’s enough high spirits to keep us supporting the characters in their true stories. But I can’t praise every film of the genre.
“Unsung Hero” has some nice qualities, regarding the emotions within the family, its choice of music, and the performances from Smallbone and Betts. These elements should be enough to make it entertaining. But I was just disillusioned by the exhausting and sometimes predictable formulas. It basically becomes a pattern. Something good happens, then something bad happens, and it’s on repeat, until it gets back to the good things.
And I think there should have been more of how Rebecca, Joel, and Luke all got their careers going. She does more singing than the screenplay (co-written and co-directed by Richard Ramsey) can give her credit for. And I think with a little patience, then it should be able to overpower the negativity, or at least merge with it. There’s a voice inside. It just needs to be heard more.
