The Unbreakable Boy (#655)


I had been seeing previews of the film I saw yesterday and was looking forward to seeing it because it appeared to be the amusing story of a boy who easily coped with his problems. I was disappointed. It turned out to be a faith-based movie that was ultimately sad and depressing. Scott and Teresa, the parents of Austin, THE UNBREAKABLE BOY, are shattered when they realize he is not only autistic, but has a rare disease, octogenesis imperfecta, inherited from his mother.  It essentially is brittle bones, which causes easily breakable bones. Despite this, Austin is upbeat and positive and outgoing; his father doesn't handle it well and therein lies the problem with the film, which focuses too heavily on guilt-ridden and self-focused Scott. It is not that it's a bad film, it just lost its focus. The cast as a whole did a credible job, but the actor who played Austin was particularly gifted. I did not find anywhere that this was based on real people but felt it was obvious that someone involved with the film was personally involved with people in those circumstances. There was a vast discrepancy between critics and audiences about this almost 2 hour movie. 96% of audiences but only 43% of critics gave it a thumbs up.


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