This movie kind of snuck up on me. Yes, there was some run-up hype and promotion prior to its release, but other movies (especially the blockbuster ones with mega promotional budgets) I hear about way (more) in advance.
My awareness of Unsung Hero was from social media channels – especially Facebook. I figured it was another Christian movie honoring those among us that deserve it – first responders and the like. I left it at that and assumed I’d see it when it streamed.
Later on I got hints that it might involve the band/duo known as King + Country. It wasn’t surprising to assume that maybe they’d composed the soundtrack or something. Later on I saw video teasers with King and Country with Lecrae and hearing a chorus of “To Hell With The Devil.” Then I saw the video review of this “Rise” song at Heaven’s Metal Magazine‘s website. I don’t think I read anything that gave context to this, but somehow, somewhere, this concert footage of actors playing Stryper as they play “To Hell With The Devil” was an actual clip from the movie. I then started to remember that the father of Rebecca St. James and the King + Country guys is David Smallbone. Perhaps this movie was about this guy. He was the dad of these siblings. I guess this motion picture was about his life and the story of them growing up. I guess he was their unsung hero. Then I think I read something somewhere that mentioned their mom. Hmmm. Could both parents be the children’s unsung heroes?
As typical of many Christian families, my wife was scheduled to go to a women’s conference hosted by our church. That meant I’d have to feed the kids while she was gone. I invited the oldest at the house to go see a movie with me. I was planning on seeing Unsung Hero, but I figured he’d decline going to see “a cheesy Christian movie.” I offered to take him to see The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. He declined. Though I’d still like to see that one, I chose to instead see this movie by myself.
I had that funny feeling that, like Electric Jesus, this movie might have been made for me (and others like me). If this was a movie about a family that was part of the Christian music industry, then I certainly fit that bill of relatability. My kids should all see this.
I stepped into the movie theater and sat down alone. I was about to be spoken to.
When I came out of the theater, I immediately had the unction to write a review. My first words into my smartphone’s sound recorder were: “I’m not sure how to process this. I just went and saw the movie Unsung Hero and I wept more than once.”
It certainly hit home.
I had a fellow writer who once told me not to share my feelings of vulnerability like this. In other words, ‘Never admit that something made you cry,’ but I refuse that. I feel like being honest is the way to go and I’m not always trying to win something, but I feel like maybe I champion myself when I don’t care about consequences or the fear of man. But I digress.
Onto the movie. Unsung Hero is about the David Smallbone family, which includes Rebecca St. James and her six siblings – two of which make up the extremely popular pop rock band King + Country.
Again, because it was a movie where I could easily see myself or recognize parts of my own life that I reflect on the big screen, I was excited to see the story develop.
I was sad to realize how hard it was for David Smallbone back in the early 90s before they moved from Australia. I did some business with his company, selling Lust Control albums on cassette. Gosh, I hope selling Lust Control’s soon-to-be-released on vinyl album, This Is A Condom Nation, in the conservative Christian bookstore market down under was profitable for him and not one other piece that broke up his financial stability. (I laugh, I believe he ordered, sold, and re-ordered this album) I wasn’t aware that he felt he had to move from Australia to the U.S. just to survive and provide for his family.
Sorry for the tid-bit of a spoiler (Alert! Alert!), but it seems that David was a promoter in Australia and the Amy Grant Lead Me On tour (with several dates across that country) for him was a backbreaker. He lost his shirt. The movie said he was $500,000 in debt after that one. I guess a bad tour can ruin the reputation of a promoter and keep people from wanting to work with you. That sounds ridiculous, but the dog-eat-dog world of entertainment business can be ruthless. It’s a high risk business which is kind of scary to me. They lost their house and moved to Nashville for a new business opportunity.
This new business opportunity disappeared almost immediately, and he was left with trying to scrape two nickels together. One benefit of having a large family, however, is you can put your sons to work mowing lawns, etc. It’s amazing when you’re down and others around you rally around you and go to work.
When I saw the Rebecca St. James tour bus later on in the movie, I thought to myself, ‘I’ve been on that bus.’ (Don’t forget, Doug, movies use props. It’s probably not the same bus you were on.) I remember interviewing Rebecca St. James for HM Magazine back in the day. Yes, even though HM was a metal / hard music magazine, Rebecca had an edgy song called “God” that fit the bill for my editorial decision. The interview was in Nashville during Gospel Music (aka GMA) Week and the label or her management had parked a tour bus out front by the Stouffer / Renaissance Hotel downtown that the weeklong convention based itself in (which is connected to the Nashville Convention Center). My family was with me for this interview and I remember Rebecca making mention of how cool she thought it was to have family with me. It was definitely apparent that her music business was also a family one.
This movie shares those details in how the family has been involved pretty much since day one.
Everyone reacts to a story or art differently, but this one really highlighted the importance of family and how taking an adventure into the unknown is a courageous move to make and it benefits the road warriors involved to have someone familiar to lean on. Seeing David Smallbone work so hard to support his family was inspiring to me (and will probably be to men and fathers everywhere in the audience).
I’ve known many friends and heard lots of stories about people trying to make it in Nashville. One friend of mine had a record deal that seemed to be so promising with a debut album coming out but the deal later went South and did not provide the financial reward we all thought would be coming. He ended up delivering pizzas to support his family and he told me once how he delivered a pizza to a residence and the customers were fellow artists that knew him. Talk about humbling.
I’ll never forget hanging out with Michael Sweet and his family in the late 90s and while the wives, kids and I went out for lunch, we drove past Michael in his waders in the middle of a bog field with cranberries and his wife at the time Kyle Sweet (rejoicing in peace) saying, “I’m so proud of Michael supporting his family like this.” Instead of being elevated up on a stage with pyro, vari-lights, and a killer sound system, he was almost armpit deep in a cranberry bog in the heat of a Massachusetts summer. He was no longer in the multi-million-selling band Stryper anymore. His solo career wasn’t really taking off.
Embracing humility is heroic.
This movie touches on those nerves and emotions. Powerful stuff. Recognizable backgrounds for many of us. If you were involved with or fed off of the Christian rock music industry at any time between the late 70s and now, go see this film.
Post Logue:
I think we (somebody, please) should make lots of social media memes of the Eddie DeGarmo character from this movie. With all due respect to the actor, who I think did a great job with this character, the movie version of Eddie has this crazy hair style. I for one, think the true, historical Eddie DeGarmo had a great head of hair back in those days. The one in the movie is a bit cra-cra. Just saying. I think he looked more like Iron Maiden’s Eddie with that hair than the real Eddie DeGarmo.
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