Soul Surfer

An American drama film directed by Sean McNamara about the life of surfer Bethany Hamilton (born February 8, 1990) released in April, 2011.

Bethany Hamilton

Thirteen years old Bethany Hamilton (AnnaSophia Robb) is a champion surfer who was born to be in the water. On October 31, 2003, she went for a fun night out night surfing and was attacked by a fourteen foot tiger shark came out of nowhere and lost her left arm. Beside losing her left arm, she also lost sixty percent of her blood and her doctor, Dr David Rovinsky (Craig T Nelson) calls her survival a miracle.

All her dreams shattered, she has to re-learn how to do everything with only one arm. Despite the trauma of the incident, she was determined to return to surfing. Less than a month after the incident, she returned to her board. Initially, she adopted a custom-made board that was longer and slightly thicker, making it easier to paddle and learned to kick more to make up for the loss of her left arm. On January 10, 2004, after teaching herself to surf with one arm, she entered a major competition and she now uses standard competitive short-boards.

Soul Surfer is an inspirational film for the entire family about overcoming obstacles and turning tragedy into triumph. Life is a journey, none of us knows what might happen in life even the next minute and bad things do happen. We can't always understand them but we have to trust and have faith and is how we respond to them that defines our character and the quality of life. Either to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of the loss or to choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift which is life itself. 

Movie Trailer: