Unconditional is a dramatic film based on a true story revolving around the struggle of the main character Sam (Lynn Collins), and her struggle with life after her husband Billy (Diego Klattenhoff) was murdered and robbed in an alley. Sam struggled to fight back her inner demons and attempted to commit suicide when all of the sudden she heard a scream coming from a nearby street. After approaching the street, Sam sees a little girl named Keisha (Gabriella Phillips) struck by a car while her brother Macon (Kwesi Boakye) was screaming in fear that she might not be alive. Sam rushes to the hospital with the little girl and she survived with minor injuries. It was later found out that Keisha and Macon were roaming the streets late at night to steal food due to their extreme hunger. While at the hospital, Sam is re-united with her childhood best friend Joe. I personally love the scene where they re-united and the audience could see the surprise in the actor's eyes. Joe tells Sam they should hangout and catch up sometime soon. A few days later, Sam goes to visit Joe where she discovers he helps mentor kids in the hood to prevent them from making mistakes in life.
The kids grew on Sam and she finally found hope in life. The kids were invited to Sam's farm to meet her horse, dance, eat and stay the night. Alike to Sam, Joe had a dark past. Joe was in prison for 8 years due to hacking into a bank. While in prison, Joe was stabbed with a shank. Ever since being stabbed, Joe needs a daily kidney dialysis. While at the barn, Joe collapsed in his guest room due to his kidneys failing and was immediately rushed to the hospital. The doctors stated that Joe may not survive because his body may reject the kidney transplant. There was also a possibility that Joe could die before the kidney arrives. Sam had lost her husband and she feared the worst that she could lose her best friend. Sam became full of rage and anger over her life so she went after the man who she had though killed her husband wanting revenge.
Some positive things I thought about this film would be the setting. I love how the setting transitions from the worst parts of the hood to a beautiful farm and I love how it shows the reaction of the children when they get to experience nature like they never have before. I also loved the story and found it inspiring on so many levels that Sam went through the death of her husband and managed to cope with it and make herself happy.
I enjoyed that the actors went from having nothing to being extremely happy. Sam was on the brink of death with depression but she found hope in life. The kids Macon and Keisha didn't have someone to look up to except for Joe but they found Sam. Everyone in the film went from a low point in their life to having a family.
There are also some negative things about the film. The transition into flashbacks when Sam would think back to when her husband had been alive tended to be hard to indicate. I would be watching a scene not knowing it was even a flashback and confused on why she was talking to her husband when he had passed away.
Another negative side of the film would be the mood. I feel as if the movie was sad until the ending. The movie starts off with Sam's husband dying and her trying to commit suicide then transitions into Keisha getting hit by a car and lastly transitions to Joe on his dialysis machine. Throughout the movie all the actors did was face struggles and there's a lack of happiness and hope.
I loved the characters and how they fit into the movie. I was always on the edge of my seat when a character's secrets or past would get revealed. I was very surprised when I had seen that Joe had to go to prison for 8 years but he still manages to be such a positive guy. It was also nice to see that after Keisha went through her mom's death, she began to talk again after going to the farm.
I enjoyed the way the actors portrayed the characters as well. Kwesi Boakye did a great job at playing Macon and acting like a bad kid and bad sibling when in reality he was a nice kid. Lynn Collins in my opinion looked like the original person the true story is based off of so she was the perfect match for the role.
In my opinion I thought this was a unique movie. If it wasn't based on a true story, I'd think it was an average film that was decent but the fact that this movie is based on a true story makes it breathtaking. I enjoyed the setting and characters more than most movies I watch. If I could rate Unconditional out of 10 I'd give it a 7.5/10.
Review of Unconditional
