By Aaron Earls and Carol Pipes
Lifeway Films hosted a screening of two films during the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting. SBC messengers and guests had the opportunity to view Unbroken: Path to Redemption, the sequel to the 2014 feature film Unbroken, and Indivisible, a film based on the true story of Army Chaplain Darren Turner and his wife Heather.
Bill Craig, director of publishing at Lifeway, introduced Unbroken: Path to Redemption to a packed house of attendees on Monday night (June 11).
He spoke about how Will Graham, grandson of the late evangelist, portrayed his grandfather in the movie. They were set to see an early screening of the movie with Graham the week Billy Graham died.
Unbroken: Path to Redemption is based on the best-selling book by Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken, and picks up where the 2014 film by the same name ended.
World War II hero Louis Zamperini comes home after surviving a plane crash and becoming a Japanese prisoner of war.
Zamperini blames God for his ordeal and struggles to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder with nightmares from the war.
Despite getting married and having a daughter, Zamperini becomes an alcoholic desperate for revenge on those who tortured him.
On the brink of divorce, Zamperini’s wife Cynthia goes to Billy Graham’s 1949 Los Angeles Crusade where she renews her faith in God and her commitment to love her husband through his flaws.
After initially refusing her invitation to the crusade, Zamperini finally goes, hears a message about God’s love and forgiveness.
Later, he goes to Japan and speaks to the very men who had previously abused and humiliated him.
Unbroken: Path to Redemption stars Samuel Hunt (Chicago P.D.), Merritt Patterson (The Hole), David Sakurai (Fantastic Beats: The Crime of Grindewald), Bobby Campo (Legally Blonde), Robert Gunton (The Shawshank Redemption) and Will Graham. Two of Louis and Cynthia’s Zamperini’s children, Luke and Cynthia, served as executive producers.
The movie opens in theaters on Oct. 5 and concludes with actual video from Billy Graham and Louis Zamperini at a Graham crusade.
On Tuesday night, Lifeway Films screened Indivisible, which tells the story of Army Chaplain Darren Turner and his wife, Heather, who seem to have the perfect marriage.
Fresh from seminary and basic training, Chaplain Turner and his family arrive at Fort Stewart (Georgia) ready to start a new life in the military. But before the Turners can even unpack their new house, Darren is deployed to Iraq during the early years of the war. Heather is left taking care of their three young children alone, as well as serving the families of the other deployed soldiers.
The realities of war and a months-long separation take their toll on the couple’s relationship. When Chaplain Turner finally comes home, Heather begins to realize he’s not the same man she sent off to war. The Turners now face a new battle—the fight to save their marriage.
Indivisible brings to life the very real challenges faced by military families during deployment and when a loved one returns and begins to reintegrate back into life at home.
“Indivisible’s true story shows there is no marriage too broken for God,” said director David Evans. “We hope husbands and wives who see the Turners’ story on film will stop fighting one another and join forces to fight for their marriages together instead.”
The film stars Sarah Drew (Grey’s Anatomy), Justin Bruening (Grey’s Anatomy), George (Grey’s Anatomy) and Tia Mowry (Sister, Sister), Michael O’Neill (NCIS), Eric Close (Without A Trace), Madeline Carroll (I Can Only Imagine), Tanner Stine (The Thundermans) and Skye P. Marshall (Black Lightning).
Indivisible is produced by Reserve Entertainment, Provident Films, The WTA Group, Graceworks Pictures and Calvary Pictures. The film premieres in theaters nationwide Oct. 26.
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Aaron Earls and Carol Pipes are writers for Lifeway Christian Resources.
