Unsung Hero demonstrates the professional growth of the Christian-based film movement in the past decade. Of course, themes of faith, redemption, and forgiveness are still prevalent. However, Unsung Hero is an example of a story that is now subtly enhanced instead of being the driving force.

That being said, Unsung Hero can wield a heavy shepherd’s staff regarding the genre’s bread-and-butter themes. Nevertheless, the story of the Smallbone family does display some sins on their way to redemption. It is refreshing to consider the subtle way pride, envy, and even sloth are woven into the story.

Yet, the film’s oversaturation of well-earned melodrama eventually does in the filmmaker’s effort. Even with the best intentions.

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Unsung Hero Review and Synopsis

Unsung Hero follows David (Joel Smallbone, playing his father) and Helen Smallbone (Daisy Betts), a couple raising eight children in Australia. David is a successful music producer, and they have another child on the way. (The Smallbones take Genesis 1:28 about being “fruitful and multiply” very seriously.) That’s until David makes a financial blunder and loses everything.

David is forced to find work outside their home country. He begins to hear tales of the Nashville music scene starting to thrive. He lands a job managing an established talent. Still, when they make the trek, David discovers the job is no longer available. The Smallbones stumble into a lawn and housekeeping service to make ends meet. Yet, they still continue to fight hardships along the way.

Unsung Hero is based on the incredible true story of the Smallbone family—think of them as the Osmonds, but the Smallbones work for a living—who became a staple in the Christian and country music scene. The family had a hard time when they hit the States. Exemplifying that pursuing the American dream is a guarantee, not success.

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Unsung Hero Is an Incredible True Story

This is where most overbearing Christian themes come into play but are eventually evened out. The Smallbones come across the Albrights (played by Lucas Black and Candace Cameron), who become their saviors and sponsors, offering them a free car, holiday gifts, and paying their hospital bills.

The script by directors Richard Ramsey and Joel Smallbone does a nice job of highlighting David’s excessive pride and understandable reaction. David doesn’t fall to his knees and proclaim miracles; he simmers in disgust over the need for charity. Joel Smallbone gives the film’s best performance, highlighting his father’s arrogance, depression, and struggle.

I would, though, say that Cameron receives the “booby prize” for her cliched and overdone turn as a Southern Christian woman hellbent on helping. Unsung Hero does give into the genre’s well-known issues of character depth, Christian theme cliches, and lack of diversity. I mean, unless you think an immigrant story of Caucasian Australians is in danger of becoming a protective class.

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Is Unsung Hero Worth Watching?

Even though Johnny Durango’s cinematography is better than expected and Teri Middleton’s 90s costume design has the right (flannel) notes, there is a better film somewhere inside Unsung Hero.  For one, you can easily see a more cynical view where the Smallbones manipulate the people around them.

For instance, they happen to clean the homes of songwriters who have established careers in the Christian music community. However, there’s nothing wrong with having a little faith in the filmmakers here. You will either love being showered in the film’s melodramatic tone or be turned off by it. This makes the movie made almost exclusively for fans of the genre.

However, when it comes to heartwarming tales, Richard Ramsey and Joel Smallbone’s almost won me over after the credits. They reveal where the family ended up and where real-life members of the Smallbone family played small to larger roles, which gives you a lump in your throat and brings the story full circle, making Unsung Hero almost worth watching, which is a miracle in itself.

You can watch Unsung Hero only in theaters.

5/10

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