New film ‘Unsung Hero’ emphasizes the ‘power of family’

CNA Staff, Apr 20, 2024 / 07:00 am

St. Teresa of Calcutta once said: “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.”

Her words appear at the end of the new movie “Unsung Hero,” which tells the true story of the Smallbone family, widely recognized in the music industry for brothers Luke and Joel Smallbone of the Grammy-award-winning Christian band For King and Country, and their sister Rebecca, better known as singer-songwriter Rebecca St. James. 

After David Smallbone’s successful music company collapses in their home country of Australia, he moves his family to Nashville, Tennessee, in the hopes of a brighter future. With nothing but the clothes in their suitcases and an empty house waiting for them in Nashville, David, his pregnant wife, Helen, and their six children embark on a journey of faith to rebuild their lives.

The film, which will be released in theaters on April 26, depicts how a mother’s faith can stand firm against all odds and inspire her husband and children to do the same. Helen teaches her family how to turn to the Lord in prayer for all their needs and, in time, to begin to see God answer. 

Luke Smallbone spoke to CNA in an interview about the inspiration behind the movie, the importance of family — especially in today’s society where the family is under attack — and what he hopes people will take away from the film. 

Smallbone explained that he and his brother have shared their family’s story at concerts and have been told several times that they should write a book but instead thought of making a movie. 

“You don’t ever think you’re living a movie when you’re living it. This is just my childhood. We weren’t trying to do anything special. We were just a family that had a great love for each other, a great love for Jesus, prayed for things, saw things take place,” Smallbone, a producer of the film, said.

He pointed out that “the heartbeat behind the movie actually really is this — I believe in the power of family, I think family is more powerful today than ever in the history of the world yet we don’t value it like we should.”

“Mother Teresa says, ‘If you want to change the world, go home and love your family,’ and I think that’s actually really the blueprint behind the film,” he added. 

The major theme running throughout the movie is the importance of family. James Smallbone, David’s father (Luke and Joel’s grandfather), says in the film: “Your family isn’t in the way, they are the way.” 

Smallbone discussed this theme and how in reading the Bible, you get the “framework of family.”

“One thing I found amazing about when you read the Bible — thinking of today’s day and age where we put so much trust and faith in governments, in some cases our governments, though it’s challenging at times, for the most part do a relatively good job of giving us freedom, they protect us,” he shared. “But you don’t ever find the framework of government in the Bible, but you do get the framework of family in the Bible.”

“So what that tells me is God’s true intent for people is to belong and have healthy families … So for me, when I read Scripture it tells me that I should take family incredibly seriously,” he said.

The musician added that he has often heard that if you want your children to be raised learning how to follow Jesus, “they have to see evidence of Jesus in your home, in your family, not in your government, not in your schools, not in all the other things, it starts in your family.”

“I don’t want to fail Jesus. I want to be a great husband. And I don’t want to fail my family,” he emphasized. “If I can do those three things well, man, that’s the most satisfying life I think I can live.”

Despite losing everything in Australia, uprooting her family to a new country while expecting another child, and having to rebuild from ground zero, Helen Smallbone’s faith was firm. The movie portrays how she taught her family the importance of prayer, even creating a prayer wall — two file folders with the word “please” written on one and “thank you” written on the other —for family members to post their prayers. 

When asked about his mother’s faith, Smallbone said: “She taught me right from wrong, she taught me fear of God, she taught me how to forgive. My mom did all the invisible things that have all the power.”

In the movie there is a scene where Helen runs to her room and begins to scream into a pillow after receiving bad news. Smallbone shared that this was added into the script to make her appear more “relatable”; however, the incident wasn’t entirely true.

“We put that in the script because there were people that were like, ‘Hey man, she’s actually just not relatable. Who can go through that much struggle and not have a moment of breakdown?’” he shared. “Well, the truth is my mom never did that. My dad, yes … but my mom never did.”

“I’m telling you, if you want to change the world, do the invisible things very very well and it will be incredibly impactful … At the end of the day, that’s what my mom did well.”

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As for what he hopes people will take away from this movie, Smallbone hopes that particularly fathers will “go back and they’ll say ‘I want to be a better dad.’”

“I hope that mothers see that all of the unseen things they do matter, they’re changing the next generation, and God sees those things,” he added. 

He hopes children will “dream big dreams” and that the “things that are happening to you as a young child are incredibly powerful and incredibly important and you can go and do extraordinary things.”

“There doesn’t have to be a cap onto what you can achieve, and what you can do,” he said. “Not that it’s for achievement’s sake, but because God chooses to do miracles through people like you and me, and he uses his people to do a lot of those miracles and it starts young.”