Tag Archives: SoundofFreedom

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Daily Broadside | Another Faith-Inspired Movie is About to Hit Theaters

Taking a break from the madness in our world, today’s post promotes an original new movie from Angel Studios, which brought us Sound of Freedom (which I reviewed back in July). Like when I also promoted Nefarious earlier this year, I haven’t seen this movie yet. Unlike when I promoted Nefarious, this new movie isn’t being touted by two Christian writers I admire. But I’m intrigued by the concept and the Christian theme it’s alleged to have.

“The Shift” follows Kevin (played by Kristoffer Polaha), a man with a struggling marriage who is thrown into the multiverse when he refuses to be the minion of a malevolent man called The Benefactor (Neal McDonough) who has the power to “shift” people to different universes. Now, Kevin has to find a way to survive in the hellish world he finds himself in and the way back to the woman he loves (Elizabeth Tabish).

The film has all the elements of every great sci-fi adventure: a great concept, a great core relationship and a great antagonist. In “The Shift,” the genius central sci-fi concept is that this other dimension is real and a place where, in effect, everyone’s interpretation of their experiences is correct since every difference in perspective or memory is the result of the multiverse.

This is a fascinating twist on the multiverse as it makes this place a metaphor for misunderstanding and potential reconciliation. The central relationship is the love story between Kevin and his wife Molly. The film does an extraordinary job making you fall in love with their relationship. Kevin and Molly feel like a real couple. In fact, the opening scene between the two is some of the best writing I’ve seen in a faith-based industry film.

The villain — known as The Benefactor — is both terrifying as he’s essentially a traditional (and implied literal) “devil” character. The horrifying power to shift people in and out of the multiverse is coupled with a dogged commitment to never giving Kevin a moment’s peace until he works for him. McDonough’s performance has all the archetypal villainy you would want from this role.

It sounds like a winning concept. The devil tempts his victim, Kevin, to get what he wants—his wife—by agreeing to work for him.

The reviewer I’m quoting is Joseph Holmes over at Religion Unplugged. (TBH had never heard of the site until I did some research on this film.) Holmes cautions us that while the movie is good, it doesn’t resolve the questions it raises very well.

Instead of exploring the multiverse and the themes of reconciling misunderstanding or different worldviews, we get stuck in one stock dystopian world for the majority of the film with stock non-believers tossing him stock “where is God when you suffer” questions. Instead of spending the film exploring Kevin and Molly’s relationship, they spend the whole movie apart.  

And this:

You may say that’s the point. We are supposed to believe God is good even when life doesn’t look like that, even if we never understand like in The Book of Job, the story that this movie is loosely based on. And yet, even The Book of Job resolves its tension. Instead, “The Shift” doesn’t give us a similar revelation of God’s power and goodness. As a result, conflict remains unresolved. 

That’s disappointing, I suppose. Having not seen the movie yet, I can neither confirm nor deny his assessment. As an “award-nominated filmmaker and culture critic” he has more credibility than I do, so I suggest we all adjust our expectations accordingly.

My main point in calling attention to this film is that there have been some pretty good efforts being made by Christian filmakers over the last decade or more, and I want to encourage them to keep trying. The only way that happens is if Christians and like-minded citizens support their work. I’m not so much interested in showing up Hollywood like Sound of Freedom did (although I’m not adverse to that happening) as much as I am rallying believers to at least give Christian outfits like Angle Studios a fighting chance.

Besides, Disney has gone woke and many of the other movies being offered to the public are so much mindless garbage. Yes, you can find an occasional movie that’s well done (Oppenheimer comes to mind, despite its flaws), but the majority seem to be mental cotton candy.

I’ll go see The Shift and let you know what I think in a future post.

The Shift opens on December 1, a week after Thanksgiving. The film is rated PG-13 with a runtime of 1 hour 55 minutes. Watch the trailer, block out some time, then go see it.

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Daily Broadside | Sleeper Hit “Sound of Freedom” Makes Its Money Back While Championing A Cause Hollywood Ignores

Happy Monday. Hope you had a good weekend.

My wife and I went with another couple to see Sound of Freedom, the movie starring Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ) that outperformed Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny in it’s opening day sales.

Elsewhere, and in nearly 2,000 fewer theaters than Dial of Dud (2,850 compared to 4,600), Sound of Freedom, AKA the Little Christian-Themed Indie That Disney Dumped, hauled in another $15.2 million. By Monday, this $14.5 million budgeted movie — THAT DISNEY DUMPED – will have grossed close to $40 million.

Sound of Freedom — THE MOVIE DISNEY DUMPED – came in number three at the box office and – UNLIKE DISNEY’S DIAL OF DUD — is already making millions in profit. In its second weekend, Sound of Freedom trounced the opening weekend of Joy Ride, a woke comedy—he wrote as though “woke comedy” is not an oxymoron—that belly-flopped in 2,850 theaters with just $6 million.

How’s that for justice? Disney acquired 20th Century-Fox in 2019 and immediately shelves Sound of Freedom, which wrapped in 2018. Why would Disney shelve a $14.5 million Christian-themed film when Christian-themed films make money? Easy answer: it’s a Christian movie. Also, Sound of Freedom sounds an alarm about child exploitation, and as we now know, Disney is pro-child exploitation.

I’d call the film a “docudrama” because it is based on a true story but it is more drama than thriller, and there’s no doubt that Sound of Freedom is a compelling movie. It’s based on the true story of Tim Ballard (Caviezel), a U.S. Homeland Investigations agent hunting pedophiles who quits his job in order to rescue children from global sex traffickers.

As a visual experience, the cinematography is excellent. The acting throughout is believable, and of particular note is the performance of Bill Camp (12 Years a Slave; Joker) who plays Vampiro, a former cartel boss trying to expunge the evil he has himself engaged in by rescuing trafficked children.

POSSIBLE SPOILER AHEAD

The story is provocative and gripping (although a bit choppy in the beginning), even though it depicts nothing explicit. The violence and cruelty are all implied, allowing it to keep its PG-13 rating (language, smoking, drug and sexual references). Even a scene of hand-to-hand combat that ends with the death of a trafficker is mostly done in the shadows and we’re only shown his lifeless legs.

That reticence to more fully depict violence leads me to my only real complaint about the film: it feels “flat” because there’s no real emotional rhthym of build and release. Caviezel shows plenty of tears, but his character portrayal comes across as a strictly one note grim, with only one notable moment of humor to break the monotony.

The subject matter is sobering and tough to watch, but the gut-wrenching agony of losing a child and the terror of what they have been through would seem to elicit more grief from the parents and the children. The prospect of being reunited with a child thought to be lost would also seem to generate overwhelming emotion, but it remains very reserved throughout.

END POSSIBLE SPOILER

None of that is to dissuade you from seeing the film; far from it. Not only does it tackle a topic that Hollywood largely avoids, it has the noble purpose of trying to raise awareness of a global business that does $150 billion in transactions annually. This despite the film being completed in 2018 and then being shelved by Disney. Freedom only gained its freedom after a crowd-funding effort.

That’s too bad because there’s obviously an audience for it. While some film critics have been unnecessarily harsh in their reviews (looking at you, Rolling Stone), at least one recognized that one doesn’t have to be a Christian to appreciate what the film tries to accomplish.

In a largely positive review, Variety‘s Owen Gleiberman wrote, “Let’s assume that, like me, you’re not a right-wing fundamentalist conspiracy theorist looking for a dark, faith-based suspense film to see over the holiday weekend. (The movie opens July 3.) Even then, you needn’t hold extreme beliefs to experience ‘Sound of Freedom’ as a compelling movie that shines an authentic light on one of the crucial criminal horrors of our time, one that Hollywood has mostly shied away from.” Other critics seemed to agree, giving “Sound of Freedom” an impressive 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Go see it. And take someone with you.