Eric Benet, Erica Gluck, Willie Stratford, courtesy GMC
TRINITY GOODHEART
Friendly Rating: All ages.
Safety Rating: Very safe.
Quality Rating: Mostly awkward script mars some otherwise very moving moments.
Movie airs tonight at 9 p.m. on GMC.
One of the things I remember learning in one of my early screenwriting classes was not to resolve conflict scenes too quickly. Alas, screenwriter Rhonda Baraka could have taken that one to heart in this script.
I want to emphasize this is not a bad movie, by any means. Okay, the story is a little sappy. Young Trinity, who lives with her single father Jeremy (Eric Benet), having been abandoned by her mother Kim. Jeremy and Kim were a mixed-race couple, and after their respective parents went to war with each other, Kim fled and Jeremy cut off all ties with his family.
However, when Trinity is visited by an angel who gives her half of a pendant that used to belong to her mother, the independent 12-year-old decides it’s time to reunite her family members and find her mother.
That the story is predictable is not such a problem. That everyone instantly believes everyone else (except in one case) is. On the plus side, the issue of race and bigotry is not backed off of, but handled with grace. The acting is very nice, including Gluck’s performance of Trinity.
Given the dearth of truly family-oriented programming out there, this might be one to try. Be aware that part of GMC’s purpose is focusing on “faith-friendly” programming, which means that belief in God is kind of a gimme, but it’s not an exclusive and there is no proselytizing. However, the movie does have a decided Judeo-Christian bent to it.
