The Unbreakable Boy was Cinemark's Monday Mystery Movie on February 17. It is an upcoming biographical drama film written and directed by Jon Gunn (the director of last year's Ordinary Angels). It is based on the non-fiction book "The Unbreakable Boy: A Father's Fear, a Son's Courage, and a Story of Unconditional Love," by Scott Michael LeRette and Susy Flory. I'll be honest, even though I'd figured out what the movie would probably be, I wasn't hugely excited about it; I was more in the mood for a rated R film (like the mystery movie being shown at AMC on the same day). However, by the time the film was done, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It tells the story of Austin, an autistic child with brittle bone disease. Austin is a joyful character who sees magic and wonder in the normal, everyday things of life. However, the focus of the film is more on the struggles his parents and younger brother face as they try to navigate how to best care for this child in the midst of the seemingly never-ending challenges created by issues beyond his control. Some people who have already seen this seem to feel it was a bit disrespectful to focus more on Austin's parents instead of him, but this personally worked well for me on multiple levels, because with a person like Austin, they are not the only person affected by their issues. Things like brittle bone disease and autism in particular affect *everyone* around that person. So it seemed only fitting that we also see the struggles his parents went through as they tried their best to care for their son. I enjoyed the balance of humor and sadness as his parents - especially his father - transition from trying to find ways to fix things about Austin that simply can't be fixed to realizing and appreciating that the unmitigated joy Austin has for life (and loving the people around him unconditionally) are lessons they can learn from him themselves. It also helped his father come to terms with the realization that there is nothing really broken about his son after all. While there are faith-based undertones to the film, it isn't anything that felt clunky or ham-fisted in its delivery, and for me it worked well (just like how it worked well for last year's The Best Christmas Pageant Ever) It's a PG film, so it is suited for all audiences, though there are some darker themes that are touched on such as alcoholism and a fractured family. However, the movie handles those themes well. Video review available on my YouTube channel.
