It is appropriate the begin anything with a prayer.  It acknowledges that God is the Source of all, and that we are nothing without Him.  You do not have to be specific with what you say to God.  Simply asking for His presence will do nicely for pretty much any situation.  At other times, there is the right Heavenly entreaty at the right time.  For The Unbreakable Boy, it is the Serenity Prayer.  It goes: “God grant me grace to accept with serenity the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”  It is often misattributed to St. Francis of Assisi, much to this Catholic’s chagrin.  You may recognize it as something that is said at Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings, even if you do not attend them.  You will see why I bring it up here once I get into the synopsis.  For now, know that it is something that can also be used when talking to God, especially when you are having trouble finding your own words.  That is something with which the eponymous character, Austin LeRette (Jacob Laval), had no trouble, which I hope you keep in mind as you read on while remembering the Serenity Prayer.

One time the Serenity Prayer can be applied is found in the opening moments of The Unbreakable Boy.  Austin’s father, Scott LeRette (Zachary Levi), has overindulged at a New Year’s Eve party, though Austin’s narration describes him as “broken.”  Austin adds that being broken can be bad or good, it is a matter of knowing the difference.  Most of the rest of the movie is a flashback leading up to this point as told from Austin’s perspective.  It starts when Scott meet’s Austin’s mom, Teresa LeRette (Meghann Fahy).  They go on a few dates, but on the third they give into those tendencies all too common with young couples.  Not long thereafter, she calls to inform him that she is pregnant.  Initially, he is shocked by this development, but his mother, Marcia (Patricia Heaton), is angry.  Scott’s father, Dick (Todd Terry), is calmer, saying that he is proud of his son because Scott intends to stay with Teresa.  Hence, Scott and Teresa move in together in order to build a life.  It is at this point she reveals some things about herself that she feels he needs to know, mainly that she has a rare condition called osteogenesis imperfecta (OI).  In layman’s terms, it makes her bones are brittle and prone to breaking.  It is also hereditary, and she is likely to pass it on to her children.  All the same, Scott accepts Teresa as she is and before too long, Austin comes into the world.  As he explains, he inherited OI, though his parents do not yet know it.  The incessant crying is something they do not understand, only discovering when Austin at four-years-old (Roy Jackson Miller) has a mishap with his arm.  When he was a baby, he fractured ribs coming out of the womb, and this second break reveals the OI.  It is also the first of many.  Another revelation comes from this period.  When visiting Teresa in the hospital at the birth of the LeRette’s second child, Austin exhibits the first sign of autism, counting the stripes of the swaddling cloth.  The presence of this condition is confirmed after some testing, but Scott has the toughest time adjusting to dealing with his eldest son’s idiosyncrasies.  Nonetheless, for a few years, the LeRettes thrived as a family.  Scott began making enough money for them to move into a new house, and Austin and Logan LeRette (Gavin Warren) begin going to the same middle school.  In Austin’s eighth grade class is Tyler (Pilot Bunch).  While Austin is overjoyed to be back at school and greeting everyone with excitement, it is Tyler that he is most enthusiastic about seeing.  For his part, Tyler is known as the school bully and does not share Austin’s interest in friendship.  During one of the classes, Tyler purposely induces Austin to begin Colonel Nathan R. Jessep’s (Jack Nicholson) soliloquy from A Few Good Men (1992).  Once Austin commences the speech, he cannot stop, which is a disruption causing him to be removed.  These are not the only problems cropping up for the LeRettes.  Because of the multiple injuries Austin sustains, medical bills begin piling up.  Teresa blames some of the mishaps on Scott not paying as close attention as she thinks he should.  Conversely, she does not reveal the fact that they are behind on their finances until he goes to take out the trash and is unable to locate the cans.  They had been confiscated by waste management because she, who controls the purse strings, had been able to keep up with the payments.  Hence, they are forced to foreclose on their home and move into a smaller one.  As this takes place, Scott’s alcohol consumption increases.  After getting drunk at their Thanksgiving meal, Teresa pours out all the bottles of wine.  He promises to do better, but then we get back to the first scene in the movie.  She declines to go out with him and their sons, citing problems with her OI.  He is wanting to go to the party because he knows there will be booze.  Despite being well over the legal limit, he gets behind the wheel of his car with his children in the back seat.  Thankfully, he manages to get everyone home alive.  But, with his car plowed into a tree in the front yard and him passed out in bed, she demands that he leave.  Scott goes to stay with his parents, though they insist that he attends AA meetings.  As for Teresa, she remains adamant that they need to remain split up until she witnesses some incredible examples of forgiveness.  The first comes when Logan gifts Tyler his prized skateboard upon hearing Austin comment on how sad is Tyler.  The ultimate moment, however, is when Austin and Logan’s classmates petition to bring Austin back to school following a manic episode.  It is enough to convince Teresa to give Scott a second chance, which is just in time for a highly anticipated camping trip for father and son.  This is essentially where the film ends.

During the last few minutes of The Unbreakable Boy, Scott has a sort of reconciliation with Joe (Drew Powell).  Do not worry if you are mentally looking through your rolodex of names I mentioned in the synopsis and coming up empty.  It is actually appropriate that I did not talk about Joe because he is Scott’s imaginary friend.  The film subtly suggests that perhaps Scott has his own conditions, like an obsessive and rhythmic tapping of feet, and Joe would be just one more manifestation.  When this makes up a part of the plot, it is fun to pay attention to the background shots when a character like Joe is on screen to see if there are other people interacting with a person who is not supposed to be present.  Another representation of this is A Beautiful Mind (2001), with genius mathematician John Nash (Russell Crowe) dealing with schizophrenia.  His condition causes him to see people who are not there, which is not the same as Scott in The Unbreakable Boy, but I am speaking simply in cinematic terms.  Because today’s film is made by Kingdom Story Company, a faith-based production studio, I guessed the conclusion to Scott’s interactions with Joe while watching the movie.  Once Scott finally accepts that God has not been punishing him or his family, he asks Joe if instead of being an imaginary friend, that he is God.  When Scott asks this question, a phantom light illuminates Joe’s face for a few seconds before Joe laughs and denies that being the case.  Still, who is to say Joe is not Jesus?  Our imaginations can, and should, be a tool in our relationship with the Divine.  Through the Holy Spirit, God can manifest Himself to us however He chooses.  The movie corresponds with this assertion in the way it presents how Austin sees the world.  To him, everything can be the best if you know how to view it in the proper way.  Since God wants the best for us, keeping your focus on Him would be one way of achieving this perspective.

Speaking of perspective, as previously discussed, there is a certain way that The Unbreakable Boy has of looking at the world.  One aspect of this that touched me as a Catholic is when Austin reminisces about Scott “seeing” him.  Most of the time, Scott is looking past his son, trying to keep up with Austin’s energy or understand why the boy does what he does.  What Scott is not doing is being present to Austin.  Teresa claims this is why Austin gets hurt more often when he is around his dad.  Austin wanting for Scott’s attention reminds me of how we yearn for God.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls this man’s unspoken desire for God, saying in paragraph 27 that it “is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for.”  Granted, Austin finds happiness in everything, but I would argue that such an ability reveals a greater capacity for Faith than perhaps any of us.  Austin feels for people as God would have us feel for our fellows.  This is underscored when Austin talks about Tyler.  When Logan asks his older brother why he wants to be friends with the school bully, a boy that has tormented the brothers, Austin claims that he feels sorry for Tyler.  Their tormentor has not had an easy life, making Tyler sad.  Because Tyler is hurting, Austin hurts with him.  If that does not sound like Jesus and how He is present to all of us, then I have been reading the wrong Bible all these years.  As such, while Austin reaches out for the love of the father as we do within the recesses of our hearts, he also displays a Christ-like empathy for others that is beautiful to behold.

I was glad to have beheld The Unbreakable Boy in the theater.  It is remarkable these days, too, when you consider the scene when Austin’s classmates start an unsolicited petition to have him return to their school.  It is a little misleading who the movie is actually about, but the confusion is minimal and does not detract from the proceedings.  This one gets a full recommendation.