25 Hill

Despite Hollywood's reluctance to acknowledge the smashing success of the recent miniseries "The Bible," there is a huge market for faithbased projects. Here is an unusual one from 2011 that focuses on patriotism, loss, and soapbox derbies. Sounds like an unlikely combination, doesn't it?

Corbin Bernsen is a Hollywood regular who isn't bashful about his beliefs. He not only wrote the screenplay for this movie, he also directed and starred in it. In the DVD extras he explains that he is personally alarmed by the decline of families, patriotism, and in the waning popularity of soapbox derbies, which he views as "pure Americana."

We see:

• Corbin Bernsen ("Psyche") who plays Roy Gibbs, a firefighter whose son was killed in 9/11. He is bitter, sarcastic and dis- illusioned. He also drinks a bit too much.
• Nathan Gamble ("Dolphin Tale") is Trey, a precocious 11-year-old boy (he reads a lot) whose Army Reservist father is sent to Afghanistan where he is killed. They had just started a project in the garage, building the boy's first soapbox racer.
• Rolanda Watts (Lots of TV) is Mrs. Banner, the school principal who is concerned about Trey's recovery from his father's death. She engineers a meeting between Roy and Trey.
• Maureen Flannigan (Lots of TV) is Trey's mom Maggie, she is a practical involved mother who allows her son the time and space to grow up.
• Timothy Omundson ("Psyche") is Thomas, Trey's too-soon-dead dad. We see most of his role before the opening credits.

I belong to a blog for former Bisbee High School students. On the Fourth of July, Bisbee (Arizona) holds an annual soapbox derby that is decades old and is a well-loved tradition. It was in this blog where I first heard of this film. My thanks to that correspondent who shared her recommen- dation.

This is a G-rated film, so expect church attendance, prayers and a little preaching about alcohol, but NO vehicular mayhem (despite it being about racing), no sweaty bodies, no profanity, no violence or blowie uppie stuff. But the DVD has closed captions. Hallelujah!

There is no trailer, sorry...