Brave the Dark – A Deeply Moving Story
Director: Damian Harris
Cast: Jared Harris, Nicholas Hamilton, Jamie Harris, Banks Quinney, Kimberly Fairbanks, Sasha Bhasin
Cert: PG-13
Running time: 110 mins
Based on a true story, this powerfully emotional inspirational teacher movie is directed by Damian Harris, son of actor Richard Harris and brother of actor Jared Harris, who plays the lead role here. It’s produced by Angel Studios, the production company specialising in Christian-themed movies, which in practice means telling real-life heart-warming stories of human kindness.
Set in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 1986, the film centres on high school student Nathan Williams (Nicholas Hamilton), who has been secretly living out of his car for two years, joining the school track team just so he can use the shower every morning. When he’s arrested for theft, he comes to the attention of kind-hearted drama school teacher Stan Deen (Jared Harris), who ends up taking Nathan under his wing, when he discovers that the boy’s grandparents – his only living relatives – would make him give up school as a condition of taking him in.
Despite opposition from the other teachers, Stan perseveres with Nathan, persuading him to pursue his passion for photography and to get involved with the school play. But when Nathan gets in trouble again, Stan realises that he’s dealing with a deep-seated trauma related to the death of his parents, something he will need to confront and overcome in order to move forward.
That crucial information – what really happened to Nathan’s parents –
is cleverly teased throughout the film in a series of fragmentary flashbacks, as if it’s constantly nagging away at Nathan, as much as he tries to escape it. The film’s message in that regard – the damage that trauma can do, and the power of kindness and understanding – is sensitively handled and deeply moving.
The performances and character work are both extremely impressive. Harris brings a lot of rich detail to his turn as Deen and there’s a particularly good running joke about the way he’s constantly able to get Nathan out of trouble, because he seemingly knows everybody, either because they were at school together or he taught their children or something. Hamilton proves quite the find too, delivering a solid, sympathetic portrayal and, crucially, nailing his big emotional scenes.
There’s also strong support from Kimberly Fairbanks, as Deen’s colleague and best friend Deborah (her reaction when she sees the aftermath of Nathan’s friends partying at Deen’s place is priceless), and the casting department also deserve a tip of the hat for finding child actor Banks Quinney, who plays young Nathan in the flashback scenes – his perpetually sad little face is utterly heartbreaking.
There are various other pleasures at play in the film, from the fact that it’s also a Christmas movie (the simple act of giving a thoughtful Christmas present provides one of the film’s biggest tear-jerking moments) to the fact that the 1980s setting allows for an old school microfiche scene (okay, that one’s probably a bit niche), but all in all, this is a superbly acted, powerfully emotional story that beautifully illustrates the transformative power of kindness and understanding.
Speaking of which, as often happens with Angel Studios movies, there are photos of the real-life Deen and Nathan during the end credits, warming the heart still further with evidence that their real-life friendship lasted the rest of Deen’s life. Make sure you have tissues handy – you’ll need them.
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