God Bless the Broken Road

When you check the credits of this one and see that the God's Not Dead writer/director (Harold Cronk) is involved, you expect a really preachy story of Christian Faith. This assumption here would be totally wrong. Years ago there was a dramatic film about Vietnam Vets called "Coming Home" which addressed the issues facing those veterans when they came home. It was a powerful film. This one is just a little short of it in a different dramatic story line. This film goes into the still going Afghanistan war and updates the story adding a crisis of faith to it. This plot addresses the crisis of a widow who lost her husband in Afghanistan, and nearly lets it destroy everything she has in her life. Her focus is on what she lost and not what she still has. Despite having a lot of help being offered to her by family and friends, she nearly loses everything. It is because she can not bring herself past her husbands death. She has a young daughter to raise alone. death. While her friends and relatives are there, and keep offering her help, she will not open up about her personal dilemma and withdraws instead. Then the broken road starts to being in pieces that can fix her problems and she ignores them at first too. For instance, it is late in the film before she finally opens the last letter her late husband wrote to her. The characters that help her throughout are her friends and neighbors at church, her mother-in-law, a race car driver, and a garage mechanic. They help despite her not letting them into her life with her daughter, who is the most important piece of her life still left. The race car driver has his own issues to address as well. The character who reminds me of the returning vet in coming home is the wheel chair bound Afghanistan vet, who needs to share something with her, but she keeps shutting him out. The main weakness of this story is that while the daughters grandma is there to help her grand daughter and has to deal with losing her son in the war, there is no mention of grandpa, almost like he never existed as far as I can determine. I have to guess that for some reason Grandma is widowed. Andrew W. Walker as race car driver Cody Jackson is good support for Lindsay Pulsipher as Amber Hill (and this films center is Amber). Makenzie Moss as daughter Bree Hill has a solid performance as the 4th grader. LaDainian Tomlinson debuts as Pastor Williams and his scenes are good. The films cast is all solid. I am glad to see a film looking at the loss here at home of an Afghanistan vet, and pray that some day we will be out of this conflict. It is now the longest conflict in our history. Afghanistan became totally ignored the last 10 years, too often by a US Media more interested in creating gossip for it's own agenda, versus reporting on real events.

This is a great movie except for the mother in law who is / was completely and totally heartless. I am a U.S. MARINE and if I were killed in action and if I were looking down and seen the mother in law treating my wife and children the way this mother in law was in this movie I would NOT be happy at all. The mother in law committed a federal crime in this movie and personally I would have wanted her charged and sent to prison. Other than the mother in law this is a great movie full of faith and inspiration and love except on the mother in law part.

Lindsay Pulsipher has a difficult and sometimes unlikeable role to play - a widow having a tough time adjusting to the loss of her husband in Afghanistan. She loses her home to foreclosure, pushes away her helpful Mother in Law and a race car driver who likes her played by Hallmark regular Andrew W Walker. He looks a bit too disheveled here. Kim Delaney is a welcome presence as mom in law and she looks good a little elegant for the blue collar setting. It's a partially realistic look at a widow facing financial and other issues. She gets quite unlikeable but that's life. Worth a watch.

Sorry, but I found it completely simplistic and unrealistic. Characters were stereotypes.

Had to be subjected this not once but twice, the first time I wanted to be strapped to the bottom of a race car and the second viewing made me wish I was the one shot in Afghanistan. Its predictable trash you've basically seen this movie a thousand times, just shove about 300 southern/Christian cliche you can think of together and you've got this movie. I'm giving it a 2/10 simply because they turned the camera on and pointed it at the people without leaving the lens cap on.

Too many people are turned off when a movie is made with a Christian theme. They are critical, if not downright nasty. This movie is about faith. For those who believe or maybe even curious about why bad things happen to good people, it will inform and bless.

This is for those that continually bash Christian movies. If there is a movie that I know I don't want to see or that I will disagree with the content - guess what I don't go - I don't get around people or websites and bash or criticize the movie calling it bad simple because I don't agree with it.

The main premise of this movie is so ridiculous that it destroys anything else good in this movie. The death benefit for a US soldier is 100K! This should have been enough to pay off the mortgage and then some. Then there are other benefits, such as widow's pension etc. So ridiculous, I couldn't even finish watching. Too bad. Good acting, nice music, all wasted.

Bring your tissues you will need them. I was so inspirational and it had me on the edge of my seat!!

I watch many of the recent movies out and none were as inspiring and emotional as this. Think it gets low ratings because it is a Christian movie and many are more into the movies that contain evil, horror etc over one that will bless your heart.