{"id":4234,"date":"2012-09-22T17:33:35","date_gmt":"2012-09-22T23:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/sisterrosemovies\/?p=4234"},"modified":"2012-09-22T17:47:05","modified_gmt":"2012-09-22T23:47:05","slug":"unconditional-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/sisterrosemovies\/2012\/09\/unconditional-works\/","title":{"rendered":"“Unconditional” works"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Samantha Crawford (Lynn Collins) is a children\u2019s author. She and her husband live on a Tennessee ranch where she has her own horse and life\u00a0good. But when her husband is killed Sam loses the will to live. She is relentless in trying to identify her husband\u2019s killer to the point that the detective (Bruce McGill) doesn\u2019t want to hear from her any longer.<\/p>\n

Through two children that Sam meets and befriends she reunites with her best childhood friend, Joe (Michael Ealy).\u00a0 Joe\u2019s work is with inner city children. He did time in prison but with the help of his faith has come a long way. His goodness and faith open a world of opportunities for Sam and those two kids (who are quite good in the film).<\/p>\n

Someone wrote that we should watch this movie because of what it does not have: sex, violence and bad language. I disagree. If you go to see this film in theaters go because it tells a story about grace.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnconditional\u201d is low budget and while not a great film it is more competent and watchable than many of the Christian genre \u2013 even if you don\u2019t happen to be religious.\u00a0 The cast is good and Michael Elay (of the gorgeous blue eyes) is the flavor of the year (\u201cAct Like a Man Think Like a Woman\u201d and USA Network\u2019s \u201cCommon Law.\u201d) You may know Lynn Collins from the strangely watchable but overblown \u201cJohn Carter.\u201d First time feature director Brent McCorkle also wrote, edited and composed the music for the film. To his credit I didn\u2019t feel like I was being hit over the head with its \u201cmessage\u201d; he seems to trust his audience more than other filmmakers of the genre \u201cto get it.\u201d I hope that his next project, whatever it is, may move miles beyond \u201cUnconditional\u201d.<\/p>\n

There is a lot of dying in the story, though, more than the true story of the man that inspired it, Joe Bradford. Though ill himself, he and his wife have been working for years with underprivileged children in Nashville. See \u201cElijah\u2019s Heart\u201d<\/a> \u00a0for more information.<\/p>\n

Some themes in the movie are forgiveness, faith, despair, children, racism, urban poverty, community service, making a difference, animal therapy, and hope that people can change.<\/p>\n