Unsung Hero

This biographical story of a musical Australian family that moves to America in the '90s and struggles to get by has its heart in the right place, if not always its sense of pacing.

“Unsung Hero” is the story of the Smallbone clan, which if you’re familiar with the Christian music scene (I’m not) is one of the royal families of the genre. Theirs is an almost biblical story, one of hope and tragedy, transplantation and living often as virtual refugees.

This production is a family affair. Joel Smallbone, who along with brother Luke form the singing duo For King and Country, co-directed and co-wrote the film along with Richard Ramsey. Joel also plays his own father, David, an Australian music promoter who brought the family to America in 1991 to chase opportunity, and ended up rendering them nearly desitute.

Sister Rebecca (Kirrilee Berger), one of seven Smallbone children, is about age 14 in the movie, and would go on to become known by her stage name of Rebecca St. James, another big Christian music star. The story covers their travails in America and the beginning of her rise as a singer.

It’s warmhearted stuff, a faith-based film that wears its religion proudly on its sleeve but doesn’t push it down your throat. It keeps its focus on the family, their strife and strength, with David and wife Helen (Daisy Betts) as the central figures.

If the movie has its heart planted firmly in the right place, its sense of pacing is less well-mapped. The film’s not overly long, a few ticks under two hours, but it flags badly in several places and feels like it could’ve been a half-hour shorter. Sequences take twice as long as needed to convey the narrative or emotional information they’re intended to, so it often feels like the movie is beating is over the head.

David was a successful promoter in Australia, but a terrible economy in the early ‘90s, along with an ill-advised expensive Amy Grant concert, costs the Smallbones their mansion and most of their fortune. He moves them to Nashville chasing the promise of a deal with a major new artist, but then the partnership falls through and they’re left with almost nothing — not even furniture or a car.

Terry O'Quinn (“Lost”) plays David’s father, a man of faith who encourages his son on his quest — as long as he hangs on to what’s important. “Son, your family: they're not in the way. They are the way,” he advises.

The Smallbones start mowing lawns and cleaning houses to make ends meet, including the home of Eddie DeGarmo (Jonathan Jackson), a big music artist David tried to work with, so he feels crushed by his family’s downtrodden ways. A wealthy neighbor (Lucas Albright) repeatedly offers them help, to the point it begins affecting David’s pride. He becomes convinced that as the patriarch and breadwinner, everyone’s looking down on him.

As Rebecca’s musical talents emerge, this leads to conflict with Helen and the children. David wants to protect the kid from the cruelty and mercenary nature of the music biz, but it comes across as not believing in her. He becomes the very thing he beheld.

Joel Smallbone is an empathetic presence as a guy trying and flailing at doing the right thing. Betts forms the real emotional center of the movie as Helen, long-suffering and eternally optimistic. I get the whole “trad wife” thing has become a bit ridiculous these days, but Helen Smallbone is an example that a woman can be focused on family while also remaining strong-minded and free-thinking.

“Unsung Hero” also features some really beautiful music, some by the Smallbones, who seem to ooze talent out of every pore. Their biopic isn’t as successful, but it tries.