BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN

BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN follows three different storylines, showing that everyone is going through something, from those struggling in Africa, to the wealthy in the United States. BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN has a strong Christian worldview, but has too many storylines that don’t flow smoothly and some violence and other content that require caution.

William and his wife and daughter are in the midst of the horrible Rwandan genocide. When they are displaced from their home, they are on the move for a new place to lay their head. Everywhere there is danger, but they finally come to a place they can stay.

Umohoza lives with her mother and father in the Rwandan countryside. When her father is approached by a warlord, thinking he has no other options, he decides to go fight alongside him.

Andrea lives in an upscale neighborhood in Nashville, Tenn. She has a great life and lives in a beautiful home. Years pass, and Andrea is older now and goes to a Toby Mac concert with her family and a friend. When Toby Mac comes out and talks about donating money to children in Rwanda, Andrea begs her father to send money to Umuhoza. The two girls keep up by being pen pals, writing to each other constantly. Though they lead completely different lives, the two can confide in each other about anything.

One day Andrea goes to the Fourth of July fireworks with her friends. Her friends leave her while she visits the bathroom, and a man goes into the bathroom and sexually abuses her. She is completely distraught. Weeks pass, and Andrea feels she can’t tell anyone and that she has a horrible secret. She starts to get in some trouble, hanging out with a young teenage boy who’s buying drugs.

Suddenly, Andrea is fighting with her mother about everything, and one day she runs away from home. When Andrea and the young man are found by the police, the young man plants the drugs in Andrea’s bag to make it look like Andrea bought the drugs.

Meanwhile, William has been approved to move to the United States, but his wife and daughter must stay behind in Rwanda while he establishes residency. Saddened by this, but excited about the future, William moves to Nashville. William is able to stay at a church and works with Andrea’s father to build refugee housing. William is still praying for the day he can be reunited with his family.

BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN is a movie made with good intentions about a real-life story. Despite this, the movie has a poor story structure, going back and forth between different story lines. Because of this, viewers are thrust into a different storyline each scene and taken out of the world they were watching. Very rarely do movies work when they have multiple storylines. BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN is not an exception, with scenes in Nashville and the next scene in rural Africa.

BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN has a strong Christian, moral worldview. Many of the characters are seen praying and calling out to God, with an uplifting message about forgiving others.

However, there’s some violence involving innocent people killed by a machete, some gunfire and fighting, and the references to rape involving Andrea. This really leaves the question of what age level the filmmakers wanted to reach. MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN.