‘A love letter to America’: ‘Drummer Boy’ celebrates nation’s 250th anniversary with a story of faith, patriotism and forgiveness

The filmmakers behind a new movie about the nation’s founding are calling it a “love letter to America,” saying its biblical messages of forgiveness and reconciliation still resonate today.

Set in colonial America, the PG-13 musical Drummer Boy follows two brothers who take opposing sides in the Revolutionary War, each struggling to understand how the other could fight for a cause he believes is wrong. It opens this weekend.

Behind the camera, the film brings together brothers from another family: Joel and Luke Smallbone of For King & Country, who co-wrote the music, with Joel starring in a lead role and also co-directing the film with their brother Ben.

It’s a faith-driven, patriotic story that is being intentionally released as America celebrates its 250th birthday. Angel Studios is releasing it.

“It’s like The Patriot meets Pride and Prejudice meets Hamilton meets The Greatest Showman,” Joel Smallbone said with a smile during an interview with Joy FM’s The Morning Cruise.

The Smallbones, of course, famously moved from Australia to the United States in the 1990s with their parents and siblings, a tumultuous chapter in the family’s life dramatized in Unsung Hero.

“Luke and I are immigrants to this country. We married Americans. We love this country,” Joel added. “… This, to me, is a love letter to America. It’s us going, ‘This is the country that we made a home in – and to celebrate 250 years, to celebrate these great ideas of forgiveness and freedom.’

“I really feel like it’s a story for this time.”

The idea for the film dates to 2018, when Ben Smallbone brought his brothers a piece of military history he thought could make for a movie centerpiece: In the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, military drummers used distinct beats to relay orders to troops.

At the time, For King & Country was already taking its “Drummer Boy” Christmas show on the road. The idea seemed like a perfect match.

“And so the impetus was: OK, what if there were two brothers on opposite sides of the battlefield, and one was the drummer boy?” Joel said.

The idea for the film predated the pandemic, but its story of brothers learning to forgive each other took on new meaning as the Smallbones made and promoted the movie.

Luke said the brothers had grown apart over the years while doing their own projects.

“We found ourselves in a situation about a year ago where our brotherhood was fractured, and it was really, really probably one of the harder things I think that we’ve had to navigate as brothers,” Luke told Joy FM. “And so we’re making this film about forgiveness and the power of reconciliation, and here we are at arm’s length from our brother – and it was crushing to us.”

The brothers boarded a plane to meet one another – and to heal. They hope the film leads to healing in other relationships, especially in the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Reconciliation, Luke said, requires one person taking the initiative.

“What I’ve realized is someone’s always got to go first – and I just hope that, to anyone that’s listening, maybe you’re the one who goes first this year.”

Drummer Boy is rated PG-13 for war violence and some bloody images. It contains no coarse language or sexuality.

(Image credit: Angel Studios)