A new Christian movie tilled Unsung Hero tells the story of Australian singer Rebecca St James and her brothers Joel and Luke Smallbone of for KING & COUNTRY fame, although the real hero is their mother. The film follows their family’s struggles and amazing faith from arriving in the US with just a few suitcases and a love of music, to phenomenal success in the Christian music industry.
“When David Smallbone’s successful music company collapses, he moves his family from Down Under to the United States, searching for a brighter future. Helen’s faith stands against all odds and inspires her husband and children to hold onto theirs. With their own dreams on hold, David and Helen begin to realise the musical prowess in their children, who would go on to become two of the most successful acts in Inspirational Music history: five-time Grammy Award-winning artists for KING & COUNTRY and Rebecca St. James,” reads the film’s official synopsis.
Last year, Helen Smallbone joined The Prodigal Stories Podcast and CBN’s 700 Club to tell her family’s harrowing overcomer story. She shared how God guided them towards their destiny. “America was sort of the land of opportunity, but we were living hand to mouth. We knew we had nothing much behind us, financially. We had no family anymore, minimal friends, work acquaintances, but that was about it.” She also documented the family’s journey in her 2022 book Behind the Lights: The Extraordinary Adventure of a Mum and Her Family.
All of the Smallbone children are now adults still following God’s calling upon their lives. In appreciation for their mothers’ love and sacrifice, Joel and Luke wrote a song dedicated to Helen called Unsung Hero which is a tribute to all mothers who sacrificially give to their families. Helen Smallbone told CBN she knows great responsibility comes along with the family’s public platform, ministry and work. “There is a great responsibility under God that you honour God and finish strong. And that has been spoken about within the home to everybody.”
Joel Smallbone directed and starred in the film based on his mother’s autobiography. “It dawned on us about four years ago that this story of immigrating from Australia to America and all the adventures and challenges we’ve walked through in between was a story that needed to be told, so we made a movie,” Luke Smallbone wrote on social media. “It’s our hope that this story encourages you and your family as much as working on this project and reflecting, has encouraged ours. Looking forward to sharing it with you next year,” he added. It’s due for release in April.
This will be for KING & COUNTRY’s second movie. In 2016, they produced Priceless, a movie about a man who fights to save the lives of two women after he inadvertently delivers them into the hands of sex traffickers.
Photo: Facebook – Unsung Hero Movie
