Drummer Boy: The Movie My Review

I went to see one of the first showings of the Drummer Boy: The Movie on opening day yesterday. All that I knew about the movie initially was just the trailer which looked very captivating and interesting and that it was rated PG-13.  Drummer Boy is an Angel Studios distributed production alongside Red 56 and 2521 Entertainment. The movie stars Joel Smallbone, Lucas Leach, a relatively unknown British actor in his first feature film, India Brown, also a British actress and her first feature film and finally Charles Esten. 

Smallbone plays Jeremiah Clem alongside Leach as his younger brother Benjamin Clem aka the Drummer Boy. Joel Smallbone previously was featured in films Priceless, Unsung Hero and earlier this year in Young Washington another Angel Studios film.  As for Esten, he plays Lord Balfour of the British Army for her Majesty the Queen and also famously known to Nashville tv fans as Deacon Claybourne and recent Angel Studios tv series Homeland. 

Jeremiah Clem, Benjamin Clem and India Brown as Emmaline all came over to the new world for freedom and forgiveness on a ship at Christmas time 1762 as little kids with Benjamin playing the drum for the passengers and crew on the ship as the movie opens. The film moves forward in time after the opening sequences and introduces Smallbone, Leach and Brown as the older Clems and Emmaline. Some of the British people fleeing were still trying to fight for King and Country the Red Coats while others went to fight for the Blue Coats and the Colonies of America. Other actors making appearances were Iain Glen, Melora Hardin and Beverly Knight playing key important supporting characters. 

Drummer Boy is set during the American revolutionary war with brother fighting against brother as a musical dramatic story with humor scattered throughout. The locations of the story were in Kingston and Lexington, NY. This movie felt like it is the child of The Greatest Showman and Les Mise
rables set around the same time as Young Washington. Speaking of Les Miserables, the novel, play and movie set during the French revolution when the citizens were trying to escape for a better life and freedom. Just like that story, Drummer Boy is the American version of that Victor Hugo historical novel with a humorous cast of characters in it to lighten the mood. The British citizens were trying for a better life and freedom coming to the new world later called the United States of America.

I really enjoyed this feature immensely and loved the music from the beginning with songs called Who I Hope to Be and Heart of a Lion all the way through to the final songs of the Little Drummer Boy. The first one was sung by Benjamin Clem on the battlefield. The other version was the famous one by For King and Country called Little Drummer Boy that we have been hearing for years on the radio and played in their concerts. My favorite song was Same Blood.

The soundtrack is a perfect companion to the movie. I highly recommend listening to it during this Christmas season to remember the film. I strongly suggest you see it in the theaters and then watch it again when it comes on video streaming services. I do believe this movie will be as memorable and a loved project like Les Miserables or The Greatest Showman. My rating is 8.5 out of 10 stars. It is not a blockbuster like a big budgeted film like Marvel or Disney films but for the budget it did a great job with its cinematography, storytelling and direction which made this movie one of my top 3 favorite movies this year. I hope I can place it in my Top 50 of all time as I keep watching it many times in the years ahead. Well done Angel Studios and production crews by bringing another solid movie for the family to be able to watch together. The PG-13 rating was for the war violence. This is also a perfect time for it to come out now to explain America’s history as the celebration continues for the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding.