Soul Surfer, The Movie – A Review

Mark your calendars for April 8th, the release date for Soul Surfer, an encouraging movie about Bethany Hamilton, a professional surfer with an incredible story behind her. Born in Kauai, Hawaii, Bethany, demonstrated remarkable surfing talent as early as age 8, winning a light QuickSilver contest. Later that year, she won her first major competition for both long board and short board events in her division. However, at age 13 in 2003, she experienced a 15 foot tiger shark attack, suffering the loss of her left arm. This heart warming movie for the whole family, offers inspiration and hope when life can be messy. Best of all, it’s not some Disney made-up against-all-odds plot, it’s totally true!

Diane and I wish to extend a very special thanks to the Soul Surfer Screening Team for their special invite preview this fantastic movie ahead of it’s scheduled release date. This was quite a treat. Here’s a trailer.

Many of those warm-and-fuzzy movies claiming to be “based on a true story,” are only loosely accurate at best. In regards to this move, a quick check of Bethany’s biography on Wikipedia, and, after viewing actual footage over the years of Bethany’s life during the closing credits of the movie, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the move is remarkably accurate to the actual story. No embellishing was needed – plain and simple, the story is just that incredible!

While searching through many related YouTube videos, I ran across one that I just had to include in this post. During this interview, consistent with her story, Bethany attributes her success to Christ, and shares that the greatest thing we can do in life is to reach out to others in love.

I hope you’re getting excited to celebrate all that life can be when freedom is found in the power to give your life away for the sake of reaching out to others. That’s exactly what this movie is all about!

Soul Surfer /sohl serf-er/ – noun; 1. A term coined in the 1970s, used to describe a talented surfer who surfs for the sheer pleasure of it. Although they may still enter competitions, a Soul Surfer’s motives go beyond winning.

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