September 6, 2019
Overcomer
My family went to see the new Kendrick brothers’ movie, “Overcomer” on opening weekend. Oh. My! This film has great acting, believable serious characters, some realistic humor, and glaring, real-life truth. It catches you into the storyline almost instantly. Major disappointment we can all relate to begins the story. The one glimmer of hope comes from the coach consoling his players with a very serious, “next year will be our year.”
Well, life happens.
(Isn’t that always what seems to be true? We plan what we see as perfection, but a monkey-wrench gets tossed in to muck up said plans.)
The primary employer in the area closes, relocating to another area and because it offered the workers transition into new jobs, of course, most workers relocate along with it – taking the team members with them in ones and twos until only one is left. Imagine being 17 years old, hoping for a scholarship in your favorite sport and boom, because of something outside of your control, your team is decimated to where you don’t even have a poor team to be the star of. This faces the coach’s eldest son.
Meanwhile, the coach is facing an aggravation that blows up in slamming bricks into shattered bits of sand. He can’t see the light of anything. No team, 10% pay cut, no scholarship for his eldest son, and being “forced” to coach in a sport he pretty much hates, cross-country, with a team of one (okay, if you’ve seen the trailers, this isn’t a spoiler) – a girl with asthma.
Enter Hannah. A petty thief stealing to prove she can get away with is who happens to be granted what her grandmother believes is a “full scholarship,” really her private school tuition is paid for by her late mother’s friend. This girl feels she has no friends, feels abandoned by everyone (parents are dead, Grandmother is always working), and good at only one thing – running.
Coach’s wife feels they are teachers to answer a calling of caring for students and showing love. She accepts Hannah 100% without reservation.
Coach is still internally fuming over his losses.
Providentially, he accidently steps into Thomas’ room. A man whose not-so-old body is being torn apart by wasting diseases brought on by his drug-addicted and abusive past. He was a champion runner. Over time, Coach picks Thomas’ brain on how to coach Hannah.
*Spoiler Alert!*
Don’t go any farther if you don’t want the whole “hidden” twist revealed. As the blind Thomas asks Coach about himself, I whispered to Thea (she can’t tell anyone anyway, but I like to talk about movies as I watch them and she doesn’t care if I “ruin” the movie) “Thomas is Hannah’s father.”
Yep. My storywriter brain is connecting the “coincidence dots” and morphing an awesome story of redemption – yes, that’s what the movie does. Thomas abandoned his family (leaving Hannah with her Grandmother who holds a deep root of bitterness) to chase drugs and junk. Once though, Thomas was a champion runner. He believes God has given him a second chance.
Doesn’t God always do that? He always gives us a chance at redemption. I love pointing out stories in real life and in movies where there are second chances or last minute redemptions. Yes, we are nerds, so I’m usually at least twice a week discussing the redemption story of Star Wars – you know, how Anakin had good intentions, fell away from the good side, wrestled with himself, did so many bad things, yet redeemed himself with his last few hours and gets to be a “good part” of the force. Redemption has always been offered but we have to accept it.
Overcomer is one the girls can’t wait to add to our collection – if we didn’t have a limited budget, our clan of ten (my mom joined us) would have gone to see it the next day too, bringing friends along! That is the first time the girls wanted to go back to the theater and see the same movie again. Usually, if we see a movie together (usually a Star Wars flick), they leave saying “I can’t wait til it’s on DVD!” This one was, “can we see this again tomorrow?”
One line got me as a mother: “For 6 weeks, I had the perfect Dad.” (Hannah says this at Thomas’ funeral.) I cried. God used what looked like simple choices to weave together a tapestry of forgiveness, freedom, and purpose for so many people.
What has God orchestrated you toward? Are you open to love and forgive, or are you stubbornly clinging to bitterness as revenge? Think about it; what one choice did you agree with God on and now see so much more than just one simple thought of “oh yeah, I did the right thing.”
I love it when movies make me reflect on my heart.
Type at you next time,
~Nancy Tart