Unsung Hero (2024)
Anyone fans of Joel and Luke Smallbone, also known as for King + Country, or Rebecca St. James? For those who haven’t heard of them, they’re brothers and sister respectively, and their family story is told in Unsung Hero, a movie that pays particular tribute to their mother, Helen.
Dad David Smallbone was a Christian concert promoter in Australia, but when an unexpected recession hit, he took a chance on a promoter job in Nashville that unfortunately fell through. Meanwhile, he and his family of eight were left with almost no money, no furniture, barely any food, and no prospects. To top it all off, Helen was pregnant.
It might have seemed dire, but the family resolved to stick together, doing odd jobs such as yardwork and cleaning houses. The kids clip coupons and ramen is a staple. They pray a lot as a family, depending on God for whatever they need.
There are so many points when the Smallbones could have given up, but Unsung Hero has a lot of lovely scenes in which Helen makes the hardship into an adventure. The family doesn’t have real beds? Astronauts and cowboys don’t have real beds, either, because they have adventure beds. A game of pirates at a local playground becomes an object lesson about perseverance and bravery. We’re going to fight our way forward. Burn the ships.
Gradually, things improve for the family. They don’t go begging for handouts, but those around them, especially from their church, feel prompted to help. When youngest child, Libby, was born, someone paid the family’s hospital bill. Someone else gave the family a van. In the midst of it all, the family discovers Rebecca’s talent for music. Two years after they arrive in America, Rebecca signs with Forefront Records and the rest is history.
I have so many thoughts about Unsung Hero. Rebecca St. James is about my age and has been one of my favorite singers for years, as have her brothers, so I’ve followed their story since the nineties. Unsung Hero is a major nostalgia hit. It’s heartfelt. It’s a tremendously encouraging story. I liked that the family wasn’t presented as perfect and that the movie showed the hardships of life, although it could never show all of them. It’s much more polished than many Christian films have been in the past and doesn’t seem like a filmed sermon, preferring to show rather than tell. Some events were condensed and altered for story purposes, but that’s to be expected.
As has always been the case with the Smallbone family ministry, there were a lot of Smallbones involved in the making of the film. David Smallbone is played by Joel Smallbone, and Joel’s wife, Moriah is one of the producers on the film. There were Smallbones making cameos in the movie and working behind the scenes. Rebecca St. James is almost unrecognizable as a flight attendant with blond hair, but her voice gives her away.
The only character I had trouble buying was an almost unrecognizable Jonathan Jackson as Eddie DeGarmo, the Christian music pioneer who signed Rebecca to Forefront Records. Nothing against Jackson, but the first time I saw him I thought he looked more like Kid Rock in a bad wig, plus his DeGarmo was initially kind of a jerk. I’ve never met Eddie DeGarmo behind the scenes, but he doesn’t read “jerk” to me. Maybe that was for dramatic effect, who knows.
The movie also ticks a lot of the usual biopic boxes, as in it’s a lot of events as opposed to a conventional story. Everything leads up to being signed, then to sold-out shows, and of course, text telling what happened after the credits roll. It’s awfully nice, though, because it shows how much thought and effort went into the making of the film.
Naturally, there’s a certain amount of navel-gazing. The trailer, of course, shows the movie versions of Joel and Luke say they want to sing and actual Joel as their dad telling them to get in line. In another scene when Luke and Joel sing backup for Rebecca one remarks wryly to the other about how they’re stuck with each other. Oh, the irony.
However, it goes deeper than just biopic tropes. For my part, even though Unsung Hero isn’t my story, obviously, a lot of the movie felt very personal. Helen might look brave for her kids, but she has to struggle through herself, and sometimes she hides tears or screams into pillows. There’s also a scene in which David gets frustrated because he feels as if he’s failed his family by not providing for them and too much has been taken out of his hands.
Both of those bits hit me pretty hard, because as someone who has been poor and still is, I know what it’s like to feel drained and to be on the receiving end of help. While help is often needed and appreciated, agency is also necessary. Getting and keeping a job, for instance, can do wonders for mental health. No matter what, these kinds of situations take tremendous energy.
Everyone who sees Unsung Hero is going to get something different out of it, but I hope as many people as possible can be strengthened and challenged by the Smallbones’ experiences.
Unsung Hero is currently in theaters. Rated PG.
My grade: B+
Principal Cast: Daisy Betts, Joel Smallbone, Kirrilee Berger, Jonathan Jackson, Lucas Black, Candace Cameron Bure, Paul Luke Bonenfant, Diesel La Torraca, JJ Pantano, Tenz McCall, Angus K. Caldwell, Hillary Scott, Lance E. Nichols, Roslyn Gentle, Terry O’Quinn, Don Most, Rebecca St. James, Rachel Hendrix
Directed and written by Richard L. Ramsey and Joel Smallbone.