Sound of Freedom || Discussion of The Movie And Its Producers Should be HERE and HERE ONLY || The Report Button Is Your Friend || Keep It Civil

[rebelscum86]

15 hours ago, Deep Wang said:

 

I literally just checked the topic on twitter because it was trending and one of the first tweets I saw was someone saying that thousands of children are going to be saved now because of this movie, and I'm like, HOW?

 

15 hours ago, XXR Electric Touch said:

And now you’re gonna use this education to…..what? The studio you gave your performative dollars to suggests charity donations and community involvement, but….

 

https://www.angel.com/blog/sound-of-freedom/posts/sound-of-freedom-join-the-fight-against-child-trafficking

How to Help Anti-Trafficking Efforts

Rescue 

There are a variety of nonprofit organizations that lead international operations to rescue people from trafficking. Research organizations in your area you can donate to, volunteer or fundraise for.  

 

 

Same way Daniel Penny got charged, public pressure. The main frustration people have over child trafficking is 1) we feel not enough investigation happen or are treated seriously and 2) victims / accusers are too easily ignored and called conspiracy theorists, grifters, people with false memories. I'll take people just accpeting this is a real issue with much more victims than they realize so people aren't so easily dismissed.

but like I already said, fund raising might go up.

 

14 hours ago, Deep Wang said:

I can’t speak for everyone, but it’s not that I hate the movie so much as I hate the messengers.  Caviezel especially has so much baggage now that it’s hard to care about a movie like this knowing what he really thinks about the subject matter. 
 

 

this is partisan bs that no one buys and at worst does make people suspicious. I have seen much more passionate rants here against Caviezel for thinking the wrong thing than I have Ezra Miller for doing the wrong thing. 

Any thing about the quality of human of the actor or the responsibility the movie has is utter bunk and laughably transparent with the quality of humans most films have attached and the socially conscious story telling Hollywood loves.
 

10 hours ago, SLAM! said:

I found the website detailing how filmmakers can submit a five-minute prototype to Angel Studios as a “torch” for the studio to consider helping and guiding them with matters of funding. Anyone intrigued can click here for more information, but I’ll elaborate on this as well.

 

Angel Studios defines as a “torch” as any film/tv project or story that “amplifies light,” and their definition of light derives from Philippians 4:8 where Paul famously states, “finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is anything excellent or worthy of praise, think about these things” (NASB). I believe that when a genuine Christian sets out to make a film of any genre, as many Christians did in the times of vintage Hollywood when the faith was more widely practiced—and when they’re doing it the right way—their effort to make it the above things shines through the work itself. A western can amplify light, a sci-fi can amplify light, a drama can amplify light, a fairy tale can amplify light, a crime film or historical piece or comedy can amplify light, and so on, as long as the filmmaker crafts something exuding the traits listed by Paul.

 

Their definition of light invites a complicated debate on whether it’s ethical for Angel Studios to give a platform to filmmakers engaging in QAnon conspiracy, but the film Sound of Freedom in and of itself, in my opinion, offers a great example of what it could mean for a film to be true, honorable, right, etc. A film amplifying light can absolutely discuss uncomfortable topics like trafficking and still be presentable as light.

The Shift is a Faustian bargain deal with the devil story. 

 

3 hours ago, MightGuy said:

The hell?

 

Are you serious? I can't even be kind about this take. The adrenochrome theory is A] definitely Qanon related and B] absolutely in no way a belief that you can have and just be fine. Negative. There is literally an extremist action based entirely around this conspiracy theory.

 

I gotta step away if this is the kind of thing folks can just post with no pushback.

I can guarantee that someone who has abused a child has drank their blood before. We know nobles have practiced  blood sacrifices with children. Gilles de Rais famously murderer 200 hundred children in blood rituals after torturing them to gain more life.

I really don't understand why we care people call it adrenochrome and try and label it a drug to make sense of it. Not everyone is intelligent, and it's difficult to explain horrifically traumatic things. Their position is that this is would be horrible thing to do to children, but the vitriol of the backlash is as if they were pro adrenochrome.

Edited July 11, 2023 by rebelscum86

[rebelscum86]

Also did it get posted the actual turned out to be 19.7m for the weekend?

[titanic2187]

The low number of reviews suggest that mainstream critic still refrain themselves to see the movie, or they just got to know existence of this movie, Or they want to avoid adding buzz to the movie which feed on controversy for free publicity, 

 

But audience score is a miracle, I have never seen a 5000+ verified vote yet still 100%. Combine this with A+ cinemascore, suffice to say we are witnessing some mini "Passion of the Christ" for this generation. 

 

 

[rebelscum86]

It's so good, people are getting more then they expect I think. I was expecting a Taken / Death Wish action movie, and it is none of that. It is an extremely tasteful drama, and without the cathartic release of action it ends up being just gut wrenching suspense.

it's just phenomenal the amount of tension the movie pulls for so long.

[TwoMisfits]

Baumer did ask me on the weekend thread if this movie breaks $100M...and having seen it, and now seeing my locals' weekend sets, I'm going to say yes.  I think it can now.  I'd be in an Over Flash DOM club...

[Borobudur]

55 minutes ago, TwoMisfits said:

Baumer did ask me on the weekend thread if this movie breaks $100M...and having seen it, and now seeing my locals' weekend sets, I'm going to say yes.  I think it can now.  I'd be in an Over Flash DOM club...

Anyway to explain why Sunday come out higher than Saturday? I know faith-based movie tends to hold strong on Sunday and the movie is heavily marketed towards churchgoing crowd but an up on Sunday? Even an actual faith-based movie couldn't achieve that.

[Deep Wang]

9 hours ago, rebelscum86 said:

Same way Daniel Penny got charged, public pressure. The main frustration people have over child trafficking is 1) we feel not enough investigation happen or are treated seriously and 2) victims / accusers are too easily ignored and called conspiracy theorists, grifters, people with false memories. I'll take people just accpeting this is a real issue with much more victims than they realize so people aren't so easily dismissed.

but like I already said, fund raising might go up.

 

The difference here is that there was a face and a name, you do understand that right?  I promise if there was cell phone footage of a child getting abducted in public the exact same thing would happen.   

 

Was there any point in the movie or after where the filmmakers listed off signs/red flags of sex trafficking?  That's real awareness and if they did then good for them!  Likewise, if they announce they are donating a chunk of the profits to orgs fighting trafficking then that's great and I will absolutely applaud them!

 

But also, promoting the film by spreading lies is kind of the opposite of raising awareness?

 

9 hours ago, rebelscum86 said:

this is partisan bs that no one buys and at worst does make people suspicious. I have seen much more passionate rants here against Caviezel for thinking the wrong thing than I have Ezra Miller for doing the wrong thing. 

Any thing about the quality of human of the actor or the responsibility the movie has is utter bunk and laughably transparent with the quality of humans most films have attached and the socially conscious story telling Hollywood loves.

 

Who would get suspicious at "the message is fine, the messengers aren't?"  You don't know me and I don't owe you any real explanation because you think I'm partisan, but fine, here we go.

 

My All-Time Favorite TV show is Buffy The Vampire Slayer.  I have seen it, all 7 seasons, multiple times.  I couldn't even tell you how many times because I've lost count.   I don't think I will ever be able to watch it again knowing the truth about what Whedon did on set and how he abused his power to have multiple affairs.  Not to mention his general abuse of cast members and allegedly asking Charisma Carpenter if she was going to keep her baby.  That's beyond fucked up and it has altered my view of something I love and it will never be the same.  

 

Do we generally give Tom Cruise a pass about his personal life because he has made some great action movies?  Yes.  Does that mean that we would give him a pass if he decided to make a movie about being in a cult? Personally, I don't think I would be able to watch that because the message and the messenger are inextricably linked.  

 

Just like SOF and Jim Caviezel.  I know that child sex trafficking is fucking awful.  I'm sure they made the movie for the right reasons and that it doesn't literally have anything to do with Q.  However, that doesn't change the fact that since making the movie, Jim has gotten pilled and says some insane things about a very real and tragic topic.   

Edited July 11, 2023 by Deep Wang

[TwoMisfits]

42 minutes ago, Borobudur said:

Anyway to explain why Sunday come out higher than Saturday? I know faith-based movie tends to hold strong on Sunday and the movie is heavily marketed towards churchgoing crowd but an up on Sunday? Even an actual faith-based movie couldn't achieve that.

 

WOM and WOM about the pay it forward tickets...plus, getting more showings as theaters sometimes set Friday/Saturday but have more flexibility for Sunday - I know my theaters both tossed a 10pm to SoF's way for Sunday (of course, that's the worst performing time - 9am, which this movie has, sells way more tickets to the intended crowd)...

 

And it really was almost unknown to anyone but Chosen/Angel Studios following fans before Tuesday - and then you have it win the day and it started getting press from all sorts of places.

 

And folks tend to have pre-existing plans for Fri/Sat's in summer, but Sundays tend to be more open...I mean, I went Monday b/c I had friends in town, so we had escape room plans and then a dessert-tea party murder mystery for the Fri/Sat weekend nights.  And I hadn't heard of the movie or the free pay it forward tickets til about the Thursday before open (when the Deadline article started my searching)...and I don't watch faith movies, so I only took the free tickets once Variety weighed in, b/c I will watch crime thrillers,,,although still usually at home, so free was my proper price range and it was so worth it.

 

And I told my kid, I totally got my money's worth last night...and I'd probably even pay cheap Tuesday rates for the movie, even though the movie type is one I (almost) always watch at home.  And I admit, "you could hear a pin drop" viewing silence in a sold out theater is rare experience - no one ruined the suspense last night...it was a breath of fresh air for enjoyable movie going in a theater...

[Torontofan]

Passion of the Christ was different.

 

Forget any recent film you think of, that film generated so much controversy, it wasnt even funny lol 

 

It is by far the most contrversial major blockbuster of all time. I remember it however the controversy wasnt right vs left like it here for this film.

 

The mainstream media wasnt really telling people not to see this movie or you a racist crazy person.

 

It was more the violence and the way Jews were framed in the film that became extremely controversial. The film also was widely sceen by the overall public and is the highest R Rated film of all time in North American even in 2004 unadjusted dollars 😄

Edited July 11, 2023 by Torontofan

[PlatnumRoyce]

32 minutes ago, Torontofan said:

Passion of the Christ was different.

I remember it however the controversy wasnt right vs left like it here for this film.

 

The mainstream media wasnt really telling people not to see this movie or you a racist crazy person.

 

It was more the violence and the way Jews were framed in the film that became extremely controversial. The film also was widely sceen by the overall public and is the highest R Rated film of all time in North American even in 2004 unadjusted dollars 😄

? I think I'm misreading you. 

 

Quote

The mainstream media wasnt really telling people not to see this movie or you a racist crazy person.

 

Not sure how "you're endorsing literal blood libel" accusations don't qualify as that. The jerimiads against Passion were much higher profile and more rabid than Sound of Freedom stuff. 

 

Quote

The scholars say the other reason for concern was Mr. Gibson's strain of Catholicism. He built and belongs to a church in Los Angeles that is part of a growing but fractured movement known as ''Catholic traditionalism.'' Considered beyond the pale even by conservatives, the traditionalists reject the Second Vatican Council and every pope since then, and they conduct Mass in Latin. NYT "months before debut movie on jesus' death causes stir

This isn't "Qanon" but it's it's fearmongering about the reactionary religious stuff. That's not the current language of culture wars but in 2004, it's very much part of the culture war air people breathed. 

 

-----------

 

The culture war stuff was literally the text of Passion of the Christ discourse. I'd say it was all sublimated debates over the sense of Christian Right role in Bush era GOP (/versus secular Democrats) but it's not even that, it's literally in the text of people's comments at the time. In 2004 People on both Left and Right were absolutely SHOUTING that this was a left versus right culture war thing. 

 

Here's a neat little narrative history podcast on Evangelicals in modern American politics that had 2 episodes on passion debates as a way to quickly grab some primary sources. 

 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-27-evangelicals-gets-passionate-about-the/id1596003464?i=1000596967711

 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-28-how-mel-gibsons-the-passion-of-the/id1596003464?i=1000602898930

 

for right wing sources: you have a buffet of explicit smoking gun quotes (pulled from the episode 28 link).

Quote

Yet still the questions arise. Why do a handful of writers continue to rage that the film is a moral atrocity, a horror, the product of a deranged or anti-Semitic mind? Why do they hate “The Passion of the Christ” so? The answer I believe may be found in words this writer spoke at the Republican convention, 12 years ago: “There is a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America. It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we will one day be as was the Cold War itself.”...

Braveheart has led and won a great victory in the crusade that is the culture war that will determine the fate of the civilization that came out of what happened on Calvary and on that first Easter morning. - Patrick Buchanan, guy who literally popularized the phrase "culture war" in his convention speech in 1996. 

 

Quote

In 2004, "According to a source in the Kerry campaign, Bush advisor Karl Rove said he was going to turn the presidential election into one between those who went to see Gibson's movie and those that did not.

 

A Rove ally talked about how the film's success could signal powerful political alliance of conservative catholics and protestants, saying "Something they think is valuable can prevail against the main stream media especially the NYT which tried to destroy the movie before it opened."  & "If the passion has legs, Democrats are in trouble. Their worst fear is that mass attending catholics and conservative protestants can work together." 

 

Quote

"until now, Hollywood's execs were largely talking among themselves, ignored by the unenglighted traditional masses they distain...they seek to marginalize and dismiss people's religious faith and stand on the threadbare margins on our culture demanding they make the rules." 

 

 

 

Edited July 11, 2023 by PlatnumRoyce

[Torontofan]

2 minutes ago, PlatnumRoyce said:

???

 

 

Not sure how "you're endorsing literal blood libel" accusations don't qualify as that. The jerimiads against Passion were much higher profile and more rabid than Sound of Freedom stuff. 

 

-----------

 

The culture war stuff was literally the text of Passion of the Christ discourse. I'd say it was all sublimated debates over the sense of Christian Right role in Bush era GOP (/versus secular Democrats) but it's not even that, it's literally in the text of people's comments at the time. In 2004 People on both Left and Right were absolutely SHOUTING that this was a left versus right culture war thing. Here's a neat little narrative history podcast on Evangelicals in modern American politics that had 2 episodes on passion debates as a way to quickly grab some primary sources. 

 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-27-evangelicals-gets-passionate-about-the/id1596003464?i=1000596967711

 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-28-how-mel-gibsons-the-passion-of-the/id1596003464?i=1000602898930

 

for right wing sources: you have a buffet of explicit smoking gun quotes (pulled from the episode 28 link).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Difference was a lot of mainstream or democrats still watched this as this sold over 60 million tickets lol 

[PlatnumRoyce]

23 minutes ago, Torontofan said:

Difference was a lot of mainstream or democrats still watched this as this sold over 60 million tickets lol 

 

I guess I just see that as self-evidently a different question. Figuring out what the public narratives were about a film is separate from how people responded to them. The high profile cultural debate about Passion of the Christ was real Manichean left v. right stuff for the most part even if that's not how most normal people engaged with the film (which basically explicitly/implicitly accepted Gibson's framing that this was a lavish passion play aiming at biblical fidelity). That's presumably amplified by composition of elite voices on left and right which tend to exaggerate degree of left v. right religious divergence. Lots of people with say Joe Biden's demographic profile presumably saw Passion of the Christ but that doesn't mean those denunciations of the film don't exist in significant cultural outlets. 

 

 

 

By the same logic, I really think you're understating the number of "mainstream or democrats" who presumably watched Sound of Freedom on its own terms and are either ignorant of the culture war noise (most people don't hear about entertainment story of the day - I don't know anyone in real life whose aware of this controversy) or just didn't pay it much heed and engage with it as a basically apolitical message movie (as everyone would have if it was released around 2018). 

Edited July 11, 2023 by PlatnumRoyce

[SLAM!]

11 hours ago, rebelscum86 said:

The Shift is a Faustian bargain deal with the devil story.

That type of story sounds like it can still be “light.” To suggest that some things aren’t worth handing over your very soul for—that would surely fall under “whatever is true.”

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

I think it was Deadline who called Sound of Freedom a mini-American Sniper and that seems about right. The funny thing was that one premiered at a film festival in November to mid reviews, so it was dismissed as an awards player and its content went largely undebated. Then it went wide in January to enormous box office, and  suddenly there was all this controversy online about the accuracy and the politics and what a dangerous message it was sending, often from people who hadn't seen the movie. That was a mainstream studio film, and no one in the production was promoting it on social media with conspiracy theories, at least.

 

But overall the beats are very familiar.

[Torontofan]

7 minutes ago, BoxOfficeFangrl said:

I think it was Deadline who called Sound of Freedom a mini-American Sniper and that seems about right. The funny thing was that one premiered at a film festival in November to mid reviews, so it was dismissed as an awards player and its content went largely undebated. Then it went wide in January to enormous box office, and  suddenly there was all this controversy online about the accuracy and the politics and what a dangerous message it was sending, often from people who hadn't seen the movie. That was a mainstream studio film, and no one in the production was promoting it on social media with conspiracy theories, at least.

 

But overall the beats are very familiar.

Ironically all the controversy around the film made the film become a mainstream draw.

 

Outside of very political minded people, a film about an american solider doing his duty is not really contoversial. 

[von Kenni]

1 hour ago, Torontofan said:

Ironically all the controversy around the film made the film become a mainstream draw.

 

Outside of very political minded people, a film about an american solider doing his duty is not really contoversial. 

 

Yeah, what was the controversy about?

 

I missed it totally. Was it too patriotic for some people's taste? ...although, it showed the brutal "why are we here?" aspect of it as well and as you said, ultimately was about an American soldier doing his duty.

Edited July 11, 2023 by von Kenni

[titanic2187]

4 hours ago, TwoMisfits said:

 

WOM and WOM about the pay it forward tickets...plus, getting more showings as theaters sometimes set Friday/Saturday but have more flexibility for Sunday - I know my theaters both tossed a 10pm to SoF's way for Sunday (of course, that's the worst performing time - 9am, which this movie has, sells way more tickets to the intended crowd)...

 

I wonder if the pay-it-forward method could be new approach for mid-low budget drama movies, especially those small movie with great WOM. SoF's BO run so far have about 10% of the revenue stemming from Pay-it-forward platform, if "just" 10% is big enough to set a small/medium movie on fire, studio should start to explore the viability of this method. 

[robertman2]

9 minutes ago, von Kenni said:

 

Yeah, what was the controversy about?

 

I missed it totally. Was it too patriotic for some people's taste? ...although, it showed the brutal "why are we here?" aspect of it as well and as you said, ultimately was about an American soldier doing his duty.

Chris Kyle was the kind of person who wanted to go to New Orleans during Katrina so he could snipe black people.

 

Dude was a fucking monster

[von Kenni]

39 minutes ago, RobrtmanAStarWarsReference said:

Chris Kyle was the kind of person who wanted to go to New Orleans during Katrina so he could snipe black people.

 

Dude was a fucking monster

 

Wow, reading the Wikipedia page shows that there was a dark side too which is described a lot as 

Fabrications of personal narrative

 

There it's mentioned that he stated as going to shoot armed looters in New Orleans which is a horrific notion but I guess a fabrication. Though, your description as "shooting black people" makes it as a racially incentivised motive which at least the Wikipedia's take on his own account doesn't say.

 

All-in-all, he had some troubles clearly and not knowing if it was the war per se but that's what it does. Everyone comes more or less broken back if you have been in actual combat, unless you're a psychopath without feelings.

[von Kenni]

50 minutes ago, titanic2187 said:

I wonder if the pay-it-forward method could be new approach for mid-low budget drama movies, especially those small movie with great WOM. SoF's BO run so far have about 10% of the revenue stemming from Pay-it-forward platform, if "just" 10% is big enough to set a small/medium movie on fire, studio should start to explore the viability of this method. 

 

Maybe especially cause based movies or otherwise movies that can make you care enough to pay-it-forward. Biopics could be those too.