It’s safe to say that modern films have an uneasy relationship with relationships – especially for marriages. Hits like Marriage Story show us that commitment to another person can be a fickle thing, putting the integrity of modern marriage under a microscope. In times like these, the answers to some of life’s uncertainties can come from the unlikeliest places, like a 2009 movie starring Morris Chestnut and Taraji Henson. Not Easily Broken (now showing on Netflix) might have been released over a decade ago, but its message remains as timely today as it was when Poker Face came out.
Marriage Trials And Tribulations
Not Easily Broken is, first and foremost, a movie about healing – both physically and emotionally. Keeping a marriage united (or any relationship, for that matter) is an active process. Even the most perfect pairs face their bouts of uncertainty and tribulations, and the characters in T.D. Jakes’s Not Easily Broken live through an all-too-real story of a marriage put to the test.
The movie follows Dave and Clarice, a young couple whose marriage drifts apart after a car accident. Clarice suddenly finds her successful career stumped, her body left in bad shape after the crash. Now, things have tensed up between the two, making them question whether or not they can stay together in such a strenuous situation.
Surprisingly, they find that what ties the most, even beyond the love they share with each other, is their faith. That’s where Not Easily Broken finds its ethos: faith working as a support system beyond religious connotations.
Not Easily Broken Teaches About Sharing The Burden
One thing that Not Easily Broken does surprisingly well is establishing Dave and Clarice as believable characters with lives that extend beyond the limitations of the movie’s 100-minute runtime. You truly feel like these are people with dreams and aspirations, thrown into a tragedy that could easily affect most marriages.
One of the dangers of facing marital tribulations lies in our tendency to internalize the pain. Not Easily Broken shows us that, sometimes, letting people know about the pain one’s facing is enough to take the first steps towards finding a solution to most troubles in any relationship.
Though the film was made in 2009, the themes of isolation resonate now more than ever. After living through a pandemic that put every relationship on a tightrope for a couple of years, we’ve grown accustomed to being less open about our internal struggles.
In a society where close to 30% of all marriages end in divorce, movies like Not Easily Broken remind us that genuine relationships of mutual understanding and love are something to be treasured.
Not Easily Broken Ranks In The Top 10 On Netflix In Several Countries
As we’ve mentioned before, faith plays an integral role in Not Easily Broken. Beyond offering guidance through turbulent times, Dave and Clarice rely on their faith to understand that redemption and grace are achievable, though it will take a good deal of elbow grease. While some viewers might have reservations about a movie that uses faith as a central theme, the reality is that Not Easily Broken teaches us that faith goes beyond its religious sense. Having faith in your partner, your friends, or even your community, can reignite the flame that brought a couple together in the first place.
It’s all a matter of remembering the reasons why we’re together, through thick and thin, especially when things get rough. As we see in Dave and Clarice’s story, commitment can be one of the most rewarding things in life, especially when we have faith in our partners. Not Easily Broken is precisely the sort of feel-good drama we all need from time to time, and it’s great to see it added to Netflix’s catalogue of a weekend tearjerker. Given its impact, it’s no wonder Not Easily Broken has made it into the Top 10 charts on Netflix across several countries.
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Not Easily Broken |
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A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple. |
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| Studio: Screen Gems, T.D. Jakes Ministries, TriStar Pictures, Sony Pictures |
| Running Time: 99 minutes |
| Release Date: January 9, 2009 |
| Cast: Morris Chestnut, Taraji P. Henson, Maeve Quinlan, Kevin Hart, Wood Harris, Eddie Cibrian, Jenifer Lewis, Niecy Nash |
| Director: Bill Duke |
| Writers: Brian Bird, T.D. Jakes |
| Genre: Drama, Romance, Comedy |
| Box Office: $10,726,909 |
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