Soul SurferRemember the 13 year old Hawaiian surfer girl Bethany Hamilton who lost her arm to a shark in 2003? This movie is her story of struggle, faith, setback, and comeback. I watched it late last night after a disgusting plow through the Iowa Caucus coverage, and found it was just the inspirational pick-me-up I needed. This is an openly Christian film, with the Christianity aspect carefully handled as to not seem overbearing, clumsy, or out of context. Mostly it just portrays the family as a Christian family, with a couple church scenes, a few biblically inspired conversations, and a poignant mission-trip-to-tsunami-ravaged Thailand scene.
This is not a great film by any stretch. It is too simple and straight-forward to be great. It stars Anna Sophia Robb as Hamilton, Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt as her parents, Kevin Sorbo (Hercules) as the father of Hamilton's friend who rescued her after the attack, Craig T. Nelson as the family doctor and friend who performed her surgery. The weak link acting-wise is a small role by singer Carrie Underwood as the church youth-group leader. But she's pretty, sweet, and wholesome, so she gets a pass for trying in my book.
The film asks you from the beginning to accept the premise that surfing can be the overriding motivation in ones life - similar to any other sports movie. The portrayal of Hamilton by Robb, the supportive father and mother (Quaid & Hunt), along with breathtaking oceanscapes and killer surfing footage, put you in that "surfing is my life" mindset right away, so the premise is sound.
One aspect of the film that is simple in today's filmmaking yet crucial for this film, was the digital removal of Robb's arm at the shoulder, and replacement with a digital stump. The film made zero effort to use camera angles to avoid showing the arm. From the moment it was lost, CGI took over that aspect of the film, and she was an armless girl, and the viewer was confronted with it throughout, just as Hamilton and her family would have been.
Ultimately this movie is a story of this girl's character and spirit. Her moments of despair are fleeting, as her inner strength and faith in God proves to be the thing that carries her loved ones and friends through the trauma. She helps them be strong for her. She inspires them to rise above their heartache over what happened to her, and thus be capable of supporting her in her times of need.
If for no other reason, I recommend this film as an antidote to the trash pumped out by Hollywood, and as a financial support for such films. Voting with your dollars, as it were.
There are a couple other things to note here as reasons for support of this film. Kevin Sorbo and Craig T. Nelson have firmly staked their careers in conservative ground. Sorbo as an openly born again Christian who seeks and accepts roles in openly Christian films, and Nelson as an openly conservative advocate for traditional American values, willing to part with Hollywood and appear on talk shows as a conservative. Dennis Quaid is openly Christian, and has made several inspirational films. Helen Hunt was an Academy Award winner with "As Good as it Gets", and yet her major roles have become scarce, which leads me to wonder if she has been somehow "blackballed" for conservative views. If one looks at her filmography and her directoral choices, it seems she has a preference for acting in and directing inspirational movies with spiritual themes. Carrie Underwood is openly Christian, and in spite of her immense popular appeal, has refused to go the trashy route.
SO if one is looking for reasons aside from just seeing an inspirational film that doesn't require a lot of deep thinking, support conservatives in conservative films.
