David Brookwell is no stranger to success. Since graduating from Pepperdine Brookwell has gone onto produce 27 titles some of the more well-known ones being the Legally Blonde movies Raise Your Voice The Even Stevens Movie as well as the That’s So Raven Even Stevens andPhil of the Future TV series.
His most recent film Soul Surfer is the true story of Bethany Hamilton who had her arm bitten off on her way to becoming a professional surfer. The film was screened to an audience of Pepperdine students Tuesday night in the CCB when Craig Detweiler the director of Pepperdine’s Center for Entertainment Media and Culture and Ginger Rosencrantz an advertising professor hosted Brookwell.
Soul Surfer directed by Sean McNamara (who has worked with Brookwell on many of the aforementioned titles)is scheduled to enter theaters April 8. It stars AnnaSophia Robb as Bethany Hamilton and Helen Hunt (What Women Want) and Dennis Quaid (The Parent Trap The Rookie) as her parents. Carrie Underwood also plays a role.
It is the non-fiction story of a girl who is literally a living miracle and it makes the film justly heart-warming and inspirational. Hamilton truly showcases perseverance and should serve as an inspiration for everyone facing diversity.
The film opens with Hamilton as a young girl talking about her enthusiasm for surfing instantly grabbing the hearts of the audience. We “grow-up” with her so to speak and as an audience we become as passionate about her dream to be a surfer as she is. As a result the shark attack (that was significantly toned down in order to maintain a PG rating) impacts the audience on not only a surface “thrill” level but emotionally as well.
The connection we made to Bethany at the beginning of the film carries us with her throughout. Whether members of the audience consider themselves avid surfers or not they will find themselves rooting for her comeback and sympathizing with her struggles.
The film is set to open in theaters everywhere which may make the openly Christian statements somewhat shocking to the mainstream movie-going audience. But Brookwell did graduate from Pepperdine after all and him and McNamara (along with the 11 credited writers) should be applauded for not shying away from Christian content.
The spiritual messages were anything but preachy and expertly woven throughout the film. It was so well done in fact the movie would likely be lacking without it (and Carrie Underwood wouldn’t have gotten her role).
Soul Surfer is a movie that can be enjoyed by a wide variety of audiences from surf enthusiasts to teenage girls to families looking to appreciate a story about a single individuals ability to overcome.
View the official trailer for the movie here.
