Though best known for their fun antics on “Duck Dynasty,” the Robertson family doesn’t just get up to good-natured fun in the Louisiana bayou. It’s also one that is led by faith and which tries to live out that faith, an attitude sparked by family patriarch Phil Robertson’s battles with alcohol as a young man before turning his life around with the help of his Christian faith. The family told that story in a movie released in September of 2023, “The Blind.”
In “The Blind,” which was produced by Phil’s son Willie Roberston and Willie’s wife Korie, that nearly tragic but ultimately heart-warming family story is used to teach audiences about faith and the power of renewal that comes with faith and family.
Speaking to Fox News Digital back in September, when it came out, about the film and why he got involved in producing it, Willie Robertson said that it teaches the story of how faith leads to hope and redemption and how remaining married is an important value. He said, “The story we just felt like it was important, one to show hope and redemption, but also to go back and show you how close it was to none of this happening [if] them two had not stayed together.”
Continuing, he emphasized the importance of marriage in the story and how he hopes it also shows how faith can help those who are struggling to get one’s life back on track. He said, “Dad’s story is rough to tell. But the fact that he came through that, that their marriage survived that, we just thought it was a great story. I think for people hurting and people kind of losing hope, it’s the story that you can say, ‘Hey, man, there is no telling what God can do with your life if you yield to Him.’”
Kore, for her part, added that it was faith which led to not just the family’s turnaround, but it’s present position and ability to spread the good news. She said, “Had God not come into the life of this family, we would not be sitting here today. And now we’re getting to actually tell the whole backstory of that, of how we came to that moment.”
Korie also spoke about one of the key points in the film, when Phil is trying to turn his life around in the woods but is too deep in a dark place to see his sons at the time, saying, “That was a really powerful moment in the film because you can see these little boys want to see their dad, but he was in such a dark place that he couldn’t even really receive them in that moment.”
Korie also focused on the importance of marriage to the story, saying, “I think when you see the film, you realize how what a hero Kay is in the story. I mean, she really held this man’s family together. She was a single mom of three boys for a little while when Phil kicked her out of the house. And when the moment came that Phil did turn his life around, she truly forgave him. And so just understanding that grace and forgiveness that she offered that kept their family together and that made everything possible today has impacted our family.”
Willie added that after faith turned the family around they were happy despite their material circumstances, saying, “I just remember we were so happy. We felt like we had everything in life we needed and looking back, we were so poor. We didn’t really have anything, but we had each other.” He added, “It was dominated by faith and scripture and all that. But not in a weird, strange sort of way. It was always to help others. My dad was just constantly wanting to tell other people and trying to get them out of whatever they had created for themselves like he had done.”
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