We had the opportunity to watch a movie with a new twist on the "prodigal son" story from
Mapelle Films for this review. This movie, titled
Trust Fund, has all the elements of the original prodigal son story, the loving father, money, and the jealous sibling who worked hard all along. Add this to a modern setting with modern money problems, and you have a great faith based movie to enjoy!
We received a physical DVD for this review, with the above picture on the cover, and the movie itself is rated PG.
The movie title begins by showing scenes of two little girls who appear to be best friends as they are growing up. That would be the sisters Reese and Audrey. They grow up to be 2 very different women. Reese is a "dreamer and a visionary" as her Dad describes her, and is feeling kind of lost in life as the story starts. Audrey is a hard worker, and knows how to make sure things get done. She is very orderly, and likes things done a certain way.
Reese has just gone to Italy, and met a guy whom she thinks she has fallen in love with. She comes home from Italy, lost and unsure of what she wants out of life. Her Dad offers her a job at the family publishing business. She stumbles across information about an inheritance from her Mom, thinks that she should have that instead, and only takes the job to please her Dad who thinks she is not ready for the inheritance.
She can't resist the fact that there is a large amount of money just waiting for her, and manages to take it. She takes off back to Italy with the money, and meets back up with Milo, the man she met during her short time in Italy before. While in Italy she lets this man "invest" all her money, but it turns out he's up to no good. She realizes this at the same time she realizes how wrong she was in taking the money and leaving home. She calls Dad and asks "can I come back home?"
When she comes back home her Dad welcomes her with loving arms, and is happy she is safe. Of course Audrey sees this, and is not happy about it all. She tells her father "while she was gone, I was here working." The sisters have to work through some things in their relationship, and the mess from Italy follows her back home briefly. That part was a little suspenseful! I won't say much more. I might have already said too much. In the end it all works out for good.
This movie was very well done. I enjoyed the suspense, and mystery. I also enjoyed the love story, and the prodigal daughter theme to it. I think the scenes were all filmed very well, and it took me right to Italy, and made me enjoy the dreamy place that it is. I'd recommend this for a family movie night, or a gathering of a group of teens. A
study guide is also available for further discussion.
Another thing to note is that this movie is also has a book,
Love Was Near. This book offers a behind the scenes look at the movie. It's a little more thought about Reese's life and what she's thinking throughout this story. I did not request a copy of the book to review, but some other reviewers did, so you'll have to click on the banner below to see what they say about it.
If you'd like to see more reviews about Trust Fund movie also, you can click on the banner below.
