

Her struggles easy to empathize with and identify. Although Hamilton is a top level athlete, Lieber and his subject have found a way to find what makes her such a relatable human being. Lieber gives his subject plenty of space to reflect upon everything that has gone right and wrong in equal measure, and while Hamilton isn’t exactly a controversial figure outside of her outspoken faith, the film built around her carries with it a truly inspirational message. Hamilton speaks plainly about the times when surfing wasn’t going well enough to pay the bills, and how terrified she was when she found out she was going to be a mother. Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable effortlessly transitions after its first thirty minutes into an unvarnished look at someone who successfully beat away the doubts of others, rose back to the top of their game, and was suddenly left wondering what the next steps were. While there’s plenty of praise given to Jesus Christ, that’s not what Lieber and Hamilton want to talk about the most. While they’re grateful for the things that notereity has afforded them, the Hamiltons are more than willing to admit that mistakes have been made and things could’ve been handled differently.īeing that forthright is a good fit for Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable, which is still viewed best as a devotional bit of faith based filmmaking primarily and a sports movie second. In interviews, Hamilton, her parents and siblings, close friends, fellow competitors, and her husband, Adam Dirks, don’t hold back their feelings about such issues. Lieber, who clearly spent a long time with his subject and her family, goes beyond the standard Hollywood ending of Hamilton’s story and paints a picture of someone who grew burnt out and weary from their fame, to a point where that exhaustion was more of a detriment to her performance in the water than losing an arm. Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable documents the strain placed upon her shoulders after becoming an outspoken, tirelessly travelling inspirational advocate and media darling. Director Aaron Lieber, a surf movie veteran, goes beyond that obvious stopping point to show how Hamilton’s life has evolved, and in many ways, grown more complicated and fraught thanks to her newfound fame. One could stop Hamilton’s story there, and indeed that’s around the point that the 2011 fictional biopic Soul Surfer cuts things off for maximum maudlin and emotional effect.
#Unstoppable movie rating professional
Four weeks after the attack, Hamilton was back on a board, and not long after she was competing again at a professional level. The incident claimed her left arm, which was taken off at the shoulder, but Hamilton remained undeterred. That all changed in 2003, when at the age of thirteen, Hamilton was attacked by a 14-foot long tiger shark off the coast of Makua Beach. As a teenager, Hamilton was frequently heralded as the next big phenom in surfing.

Turned on to surfing at a young age by her parents, Hawaiian Bethany Hamilton has spent her entire life honing her craft. It’s not a great movie, but it’s certainly a nice and adequately moving one. Hamilton’s story (which will probably appeal mostly to wave chasers and Christian faith-based moviegoers equally) is a good one, and it’s shared with a minimum of preaching, a wealth of sometimes brutally honest detail, and a degree of humility. While it effectively chronicles the ups and downs of one of surfing’s most inspirational and successful figures, Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable doesn’t go above or beyond in the filmmaking department. The sporting biography Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable is the kind of documentary that earns a lot of good will simply by being a film that has genuine people speaking honestly about their lives and struggles.
