FROM THE ASHES OF GREAT TRAGEDY
CAN COME GREAT ACHIEVEMENT
A Triumphant Story of Family, Faith and Football,
THE 5TH QUARTER Comes to Blu-ray and DVD August 30
Summary: When a close-knit family is nearly broken by tragedy, hope is restored by their eldest son who carries the weight of victory on his shoulders in THE 5TH QUARTER, coming to Blu-ray and DVD August 30 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
A recent recipient of the Dove Foundation’s “Family-Approved” seal for all audiences over the age of twelve and in the spirit of The Blind Side, comes this inspiring true story of family, faith and football. Aidan Quinn (Legends of the Fall, A Shine of Rainbows) and Andie MacDowell (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Groundhog Day) deliver emotionally stirring performances as the mother and father of Jon Abbate, a rising football star at Wake Forest University. Their lives are suddenly shattered when the family’s youngest son, Luke, is killed in a tragic accident. Inspired by Luke’s memory, Jon courageously leads the Wake Forest team to a series of last-minute victories - leading to a thrilling climax that will “make you stand up and cheer” (NYC Movie Guru).
The 5th Quarter came out today, and the funny thing is that this is the first day that I watched it even though I've had the movie for about a week! My busy schedule just hasn't allowed time for movie watching these days. But a few hours ago, I curled up on the couch and made some time!
Instantly, The 5th Quarter sucked me into the Abbate family because you could just feel the love between them, the love that every family should have. I watched in agony as Luke cried for his friend to stop the car, his parents searched the accident scene for him and the entire group of family and friends never left his side. The sad thing is I was also remembering sitting at my dad's beside in his final hours. I don't think that river of tears really stopped through the entire movie as I was either crying for him, or crying for them.
The saddest, but also most memorable fact about The 5th Quarter is that it is based from a true story, from a real family's tragedy, pain and finally victory over that pain. It was one of the most inspirational movies I've watched in a very long time and moved me in ways that no other movie ever has.
In memory of the "real" Luke Abbate, his family started the Luke Abbate 5th Quarter Foundation to help:
Raise awareness among teenagers and parents about the life-and-death consequences of teenage driving.
Raise awareness among teenagers and parents about the life-saving gift of organ donation.Having recently started raising my teenage brothers, I worry about these kind of things every day. Soon they will both be driving and when I look back at some of the stupid and reckless things I used to do, it scares the life out of me. We live in a rural area with a ton of winding roads that can be pretty dangerous, especially in extreme weather conditions. I almost don't want to let them drive, ever. Since I know that isn't the solution and could potentially only make matters worse, I talk to them now {before they start driving} about being safe. Now I will have them sit down and watch The 5th Quarter too, because it really opened up my eyes and I hope it will do the same for them.
Another thing that I do want to raise awareness of is that little orange donor sticker you can put on your drivers license. You know, when I was 18 I refused to do it. For many, many years I continued to refuse because I didn't want to be "all cut up" when I died. Now that I'm older, wiser and perhaps just a little bit more compassionate, I rethought that big time. I'm not sure exactly when, but somewhere around 5 years ago, I added that sticker so that someday maybe I can make a difference and save a life! I hope you will choose to do the same.
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