Movie Review: Indivisible

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland










Michael's Movie Grade: B+

Review: Excellent and moving Christian film about the true story of Army Chaplain Darren Turner (played fantastically by Justin Bruening).

What makes this movie work is that the emotion in it feels so real. Much of this emotion comes from the relationship between our main character and his wife (Sara Drew). This relationship is treated beautifully and realistically and the chemistry between the two leads could not be better. This is a heartfelt look at what effect a war can have on the relationship between spouses. They can not comprehend what the other went through. She can't understand the horrors he saw in Iraq, and he can't understand how much she needed his comfort when raising their family by herself. There is not shown to be a right or a wrong side. These are just two humans who are at the end of their ropes. We don not side with one of them instead we connect with both of them and just want to see them work things out. Also powerful is the Chaplain's struggle with faith. As a Christian I can attest it is often times very hard to put your full faith in God during the bad times. Never having been in war, I can not even imagine how bad this doubt gets when you have seen those horrors. The emotion here is completely real. Helping out here is that nothing is sugar coated for this film. The battle scenes while not bloody are extremely intense. Similarly the hardships that come from this war are not played down. There are tearful moments in this film that really do make one feel hurt. Seeing a dead little girl been carried out because they weren't able to save her is painful. This film also shows that those who are at home go through hard times as well. They know each second they could lose the one they love, and while they don't see the horrors of war, that does not make what they go through not difficult in its own way. We see the pain they go through presented in an honest and powerful way.

This is not a perfect movie, as there is some forced dialogue, bad humor and undeveloped subplots. However the power of what works in this film is still excellent and make this movie well worth seeing.

-Michael J. Ruhland