The Vietnam War and social upheavals of its time were over fifty years ago. The ramifications both negative and positive are still evident in American society today.
Combat veterans still suffer PTSD and Vietnamese war refugees have become American citizens, comprising a vibrant and valuable part of our population. These are just two of many examples.
Nearly every family was impacted in one way or another by those turbulent times.
Noble Public School teacher, independent filmmaker, actor and writer Robin Maxwell’s family experienced significant trauma and then deliverance which she’s made the subject of her new movie “Unsung Hero.”
It’s the “True Story of Ripley resident and Vietnam Veteran Wayne Elliott.” Maxwell is one of Elliott’s daughters.
The genesis for the ambitious project came about while she was still a film school student.
“A couple of years ago while I was at Transformation Film Institute we were in a brainstorming session with teachers to find ideas for a Father’s Day film festival,” Maxwell said. “A teacher said that lots of stories have been written about dads who really mess up. Ones who have to find themselves and make things right with their kids.
“He said he’d like to see a film about a dad who does it right pretty much from the beginning. There’d have to be other hooks to make it interesting but that would be inspiring.”
Maxwell piped up that her dad has been a great father from the beginning.
“The teacher said, well, that’s your assignment, you need to write a film about your dad,” she said. “I thought that was a pretty good idea.”
The project soon proved too complex to be a short film. Maxwell fully developed the script during the pandemic which started off portraying her sister as a wayward child.
“Unsung Hero” became a full length feature film. At this point it screens at around two hours.
“Through the next two years we combined my sister’s character with mine, adding some fiction and obscurities,” she said.
Unsung Hero’s narrative was written to parallel the Biblical parable of the Prodigal Son.
“The son leaves to make his own way then returns to the father,” Maxwell said. “In the beginning my father Wayne Elliott is the prodigal son with lots of partying and DUIs in his younger years.
“Then in his mid-adult years he had a life change in the mid-1970s and the hippie movement time. He met my mother and had children.”
Elliott switches roles, providing unconditional love as his own children experience going astray episodes.
“When we were going through our own rebellious phases, he was watching, waiting and providing good examples,” Maxwell said. “We each all found our way back home. The film emphasizes the life of his daughter who is a combination of me, my sister and some fiction.”
The film incorporates some dual story telling with elements of both the Biblical parable and the Elliott family juxtaposed against each other. An “Unsung Hero Official Trailer 2023” is posted at Youtube.
“My father served in Vietnam in the U.S. Army,” Maxwell said. “He was stationed there almost three years and was injured toward the end of his enlistment.
“While there he had some life-changing moments where he was wondering if he was going to die, what his life was about. He’s always been a peace loving person and did not want to have to kill anyone.”
Elliott socialized with Vietnamese people there and often lines of political allegiance were blurred. His military job was as a welder and machinist.
“He asked God to please don’t let me kill any of them,” Maxwell said. “One time there was a face-off between soldiers and miraculously they decided not to kill each other.
“He and his buddies didn’t really understand why they were there. They were just trying to do what they were told. He started speaking out about the meaning of life, what he was doing and where he was going.
“When he came back from Vietnam he had a real strong desire for peace. He pursued the hippie movement and tried to find the meaning of life through drugs and the things hippies experimented with.”
Making films is challenging work. It involves marshalling a variety of talents from many contributors, some more committed to the project than others.
Maxwell expressed her gratitude to the over one hundred actors and crew members who have worked on “Unsung Heroes.”
“Because I’m a public school teacher I don’t get to work on it straight through,” Maxwell said. “I work on it weekends. Some of our crew and actors have come and gone. Rolling with the punches and learning to be adaptable no matter what circumstances are thrown our way is something I’ve learned.”
Maxwell believes her father’s story is one of hope that can prevail over life’s difficulties.
“It shows through unconditional love we can get through most anything,” she said. “Your kids can come back when we think they’re lost.”
Maxwell has filmed on location in Noble, Norman, Ripley where her father resides, Wanette, Cushing, Woodward, Calumet and the Ouachita Mountains.
“I’ve loved doing the research for this film and learning my dad’s stories,” Maxwell said. “Sometimes he’ll tell them and I’ll have to dig deeper to get more details. I totally understand my dad better now and I’m closer to him. He’s been at the filmings and that’s fun, too.”
Maxwell has a film distribution contract for Unsung Heroes with California-based TikiLIVE TV.
“It’s a streaming service that can be watched from its own apps,” she said. “It’s a non-exclusive contract and we can sign with other streaming companies, so we’ll pursue Netflix and as many other streaming companies as possible.
“To get dad’s story out there I’m not opposed to putting it on Youtube for free if I have to.”
