God Bless the Broken Road (2018) [Movie Review]


Dir: Harold Cronk
Starring: Lindsay Pulsipher, Makenzie Moss, Andrew Walker
Dur: 1 hr 51 mins
Genre: Christian Drama
Rating: 7.5/10

The film is an interpretation of the song ‘Bless the Broken Road’ by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. It tells the story of a young mother who loses her husband in the Afghanistan war and is faced with the daunting task of bringing up a young daughter. As such stories go, she lost her faith in God despite being the choir master of Church. Her return back to the Lord is aided by the arrival of a debonair race car driver who just happened to come to town. The rest is plain story-telling.


The story has strong emotional overtones that sadly don’t transfer into the onscreen drama. The young Makenzie, who plays Bree, the daughter, is a real delight to watch. Lindsay, who plays Amber, the mother, also delivers an emotional performance but not a great one—at least in my book. The whole romantic angle that was introduced and left partially developed seemed a bit out-of-place and a little forced. The mother-in-law—daughter-in-law tension was very well depicted—something I haven’t seen in a very long time. Hats off to the writers for introducing that angle and keeping it in focus right to the very end. The story had great potential from the Christian point of view but sadly hardly anything was done about it. The film showed great promise but didn’t live up to my expectations of it.

Viewers might draw inspiration from the emotional storyline but in terms of faith experience, the film doesn’t really live up to its full potential.

TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZsmtuCddX4

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