Breath of Courage (2009) - By Brian Morton

Film Reviews: Breath of Courage (2009) - By Brian Morton
Posted on Saturday, February 28, 2009 @ 23:05:00 Mountain Standard Time by Duane

A romance may be one of the hardest kinds on indie movies to make. You need the right story, the right people and, most difficult of all, the right chemistry between those cast members! Well, Peter Anthony Fields has put together a great story and a great cast and brought to life, what I can only describe as a love poem to love, with his new movie, Breath of Courage.

Breath of Courage is the story of two kids, Dan and Melissa, they've been dropped off with a friend of their parents while their parents try to work through a rough patch in their marriage. Dan feels that his family is ending while Melissa is hopelessly optimistic about it all. It's through Melissa's eyes that we see most of the movie, Melissa is a hopeless optimist, and a hopeless romantic...she's also about 7 years old! Melissa decides to wait with hope while her parents are gone, until one day she meets the landscaper, Ryan. Ryan is writing a song for a girl and Melissa helps him, and decides to help him get the girl too! Well, I won't describe every detail of the movie here, that would ruin a perfectly nice little feel good movie, but I will say that Breath of Courage is about far more than just matchmaking and love.

Breath of Courage features love in every time frame, the young lovers who are just beginning, the married couple who have moved from hopeless romance to day to day sameness and then there's the older couple who have drifted apart but still long for each other...and Melissa helps them all, in one way or another! I have to admit, I enjoyed Breath of Courage quite a bit, the tone is a bit sappy, but then when have you seen anything romantic that couldn't also be hit with that label? The only problem I had with the movie was that, at times, it felt more like a stage play than a movie, the actors, while all excellent, especially Scott Pyle as Dan and Katrina Walker as Melissa, had moments where I felt like they were reading lines more than talking to each other, some conversations felt stilted and a bit forced. But, if you can see past all that (which I can), Breath of Courage is a testament to love and how love does actually conquer all. I'm giving Breath of Courage three out of four cigars, it's not perfect, but, dare I say it, its heart is in the right place! You can find out more about Breath of Courage for yourself by heading over to the Little Beth Entertainment web page.