Sunday, April 21, 2013

Review and Giveaway: Break Away

 

My family tends to love doing movie nights, especially when the movie is an inspiring and family-friendly movie.

The opportunity to review Break Away was too good to pass up... especially since it is from the producer of Faith Like Potatoes, a movie we truly love.

Let's take a quick look at the description from the producers:
Francois is a hard-working husband and dad that gets laid off from his job. None of his efforts to get another job succeed, and he is forced to use what he has, including an old bicycle, in order to provide for his family. With the help of his "black sheep" brother, a bicycle shop owner and a pro-cyclist, Francois makes some life-changing discoveries about his life, career and faith in God.

Although a fictional story, BREAK AWAY, was inspired by true events around the recession that left people without work. The message brings hope and offers practical and Biblical solutions in a very entertaining way.
Francois is a very likeable character from the very beginning of the movie, although it did take a bit of watching/listening before I was used to the accents and speech patterns.  The most unlikeable thing he does in the entire movie is at the start though, where he waits (I think) four months before finally telling his wife that he lost his job.

The beginning is slow and a bit confusing, but the pace definitely picks up about halfway into the movie.  I think the similarities to Faith Like Potatoes are in this aspect too... my first time watching that movie, I spent about the first half trying to figure out where they were going with the movie and wondering a bit as to why it had been so highly recommended to me.  Then I finally got hooked in and really cared.  And on subsequent viewings, I just can't quite remember why I didn't find the movie compelling from the start...

Check out the trailer.  It might help you come up with an answer to the first giveaway entry question.



With Break Away, I found that I really loved the special features, and that truly served to connect me to the characters and the story.  Watching the movie again, I was pulled in much faster and inspired even more.

This isn't a story that is likely to engage your younger children, but for tweens and teens -- if they can stick with it through that first half -- there is a great story and a lot of inspiration.

I have a copy of this family-friendly movie to give away too. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Disclaimer:   I received this DVD and an additional DVD for a giveaway  for free through Blogger Gateway.  No other compensation was received.  The fact that I received a complimentary product does not guarantee a favorable review.  All opinions expressed are mine, or those of my family.

6 comments:

Wendy Rozema said...

i would love to win this b/c it looks like a good family movie to watch!

Renee said...

My son would enjoy this!

Unknown said...

Struggling through hard times and succeeding are motivating to me.

Jen U. said...

We love good family movies. Thanks for the chance to win!
~Jen Unsell

Unknown said...

We have young kids, but although it's not a movie they might find interesting my husband and I like to watch movies after they go to bed to spend time together. It definitely sounds like a movie we would enjoy!

Jennifer said...

We have watched a few good family movies, and I'd like to add to our collection. When I first saw the logo on the bikers shirt I thought it said Jovi instead of joy which made me think I might like the music. Now I need to try watching Faith Like Potatoes again. I'm pretty sure I turned it off the first time after somebody died. Sometime, tragedies aren't what I want to watch. But since you imply that it gets better, I'll try again.