SOUL SURFER (Sean McNamara). 106 minutes. Opens Friday (April 8). See listing. Rating: NN
Appealingly photographed and shamelessly manipulative, Sean McNamara’s Soul Surfer turns the true story of Bethany Hamilton – the Hawaii teen who lost an arm to a shark and dedicated herself to getting back on her board as soon as possible – into a rote sainthood narrative.
McNamara simply pastes Hamilton’s story into the script for his faith-based 2004 clunker Raise Your Voice – you know, the one where Hilary Duff loses her older brother in a car accident and struggles to find the courage and faith to sing again. Soul Surfer is exactly the same movie, with AnnaSophia Robb playing her openly Christian character as a bright and perfect soul who survives a shocking trauma and recovers to follow her dream with the help of her supportive family and friends.
This may be exactly what happened, but McNamara’s storytelling choices grow more questionable as Soul Surfer goes on, pitting the blond, blue-eyed Bethany against a series of dark-haired or outright swarthy characters who dare to stand in her way. (The choice of Helen Hunt as Bethany’s mom is similarly dicey the rail-thin Oscar winner looks nothing at all like the real Mrs. Hamilton, as the final credits reveal.)
The worst thing about McNamara’s attitude is that he probably doesn’t even realize how insidious it is. He’s just making a wholesome movie for wholesome people who really, really don’t want to think about what their entertainment means.
