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

[M37]

8 minutes ago, baumer said:

Ok, like you're 5.

 

Not everybody knows about child trafficking.

There wasn't a huge marketing budget for the film.

It's not really being covered by mainstream media. 

The more people that see the movie that don't know anything about the subject, the more people become educated about it.

 

No it wouldn't be better to donate to some charity or company that I know nothing about. This at least gives people a chance to see it if they can't afford to do so. 

But if all anyone does is see the film and "become educated", again I ask: what actually changes in the life of past/current/potential victim? You couldn't take 15 minutes to Google which organizations have had their hands in this issue for years, but immediately handed over like $50 to Angel Studios? How much do you know about them?

 

This isn't like raising awareness of a social issue, where individuals are directly or indirectly part of the problem, and educating them on downstream effects can alter behavior which then collectively improves over time. Nobody is going to come out of the theater and go "welp, guess I really should stop paying for child prostitutes!"

 

I'm known IRL as often being brutally honestly, so I'm going to stop dancing around it and just skip to the big picture reality: this whole endeavor is a con job, the pay it forward ticket sales program an ingenious way to bilk even more money from people, and the reason you can't see it is ... because I'm sorry to say you're one of the marks

 

Sure, there's some level of nuance beyond that, but that's the underlying reality, and the real reason this film has generated so much discussion. It seems like you mean well, and I know from experience saying that probably won't change your mind, is frankly more likely to harden your position, so feel free to curse me out or put me on ignore or whatever, but hope you can at least respect that I'm willing to treat you like an adult who can hear an uncomfortable truth

[Hildagarde25]

26 minutes ago, baumer said:

Ok, like you're 5.

 

Not everybody knows about child trafficking.

There wasn't a huge marketing budget for the film.

It's not really being covered by mainstream media. 

The more people that see the movie that don't know anything about the subject, the more people become educated about it.

 

No it wouldn't be better to donate to some charity or company that I know nothing about. This at least gives people a chance to see it if they can't afford to do so. 

 

There are multiple Law and Order episodes about this. Even Lifetime movies. Not to mention multiple documentaries and news specials. Or Taken and other movies. If people don't already know about child trafficking, their media/news exposure must be very limited or it's because they didn't want to know about it before now. Sound of Freedom offers nothing new. Movies don't need to offer anything new, but to claim this one movie is somehow going to enlighten people and make some major change is bizarre. If people need to see this movie to make them know and care about child trafficking... there are better ways to get educated, lol.  

 

Also, to claim it's better to buy some tickets than donate to a charity is ridiculous. There are many well-known organizations with a long-standing history. It's not hard to look up track records. Sound of Freedom is making no concrete impact on actual children's lives. Volunteering or at least donating is more impactful. No one is obligated to do this, but to claim buying tickets to this movie is some moral victory is again bizarre. As someone who's volunteered and donates, as other posters have said, we need help in the real world and resources.

 

I have no intention to see this movie, but I have no issue with people who do. I didn't see The Flash because of Ezra Miller, and I won't see this because of Jim Caviezel. I also have no issue with people who watched The Flash, either. However, I haven't seen people "justify" watching The Flash they way people seem to be justifying watching this movie. 

 

Trying to say watching Sound of Freedom is to "raise awareness" is... interesting to me. Trying to downplay or ignore Caviezel's very real and dangerous comments is also... interesting. Why not say, "I wanted to watch this movie and I liked it", and leave it there, same as Flash? Or if you believe in the message of the people behind the film (and I mean "you" generally, not the person whom I'm quoting), well, that's your business, but you should own it instead of going on about the mainstream media attacking or refusing to promote this. Watching Sound of Freedom, or any movie, is not some moral victory, good deed, or gain for human rights. 

 

 

 

[PlatnumRoyce]

39 minutes ago, M37 said:

Sure, there's some level of nuance beyond that

Isn't the missing level of nuance is your comment something like "by this logic you're a mark if you watched Blood Diamond in part due to a desire to see socially conscious filmmaking." The actual emotion encouraging people to buy tickets really isn't particularly weird for a hollywood film. 

 

There's a real argument to be make along these lines that's just inherently cynical but it's really not the normal response to films like this. 90% of the response is culture war caused mood affiliation stuff and a conflation of marketing (Caviezel's freelancing(?) in media to promote his seemingly unhinged pet theories) with the film itself. 

 

The default for a generic hollywood message movie like this really isn't people going to barricades. People aren't called grifters if their "oscarbait" film is "just" a message film and not something whose profits explicitly go to NGOs. It's not an unreasonable critique just an atypical one. 

Edited July 10, 2023 by PlatnumRoyce

[Torontofan]

I think hollywood sort of lost all credability about sexual assault and such topics with the Epstien stuff.

 

It was well known many all time famous actresses and actors were staying quiet about Epstien and what he did or was doing to others just to get films or not rock the boat.

 

It took some brave women to speak out against him to finally get the ball rolling.

 

however it really exposed how corrupt hollywood was. 

 

I think after that Hollywood was sort of lost trust with the public and large swaths of people assume the worst about them now. 

 

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

6 hours ago, TwoMisfits said:

 

Since I used the tickets, it does cover the Atom fee as well, which would normally be $1.75 on top of each ticket (or it might be higher - I wasn't really paying attention except to see $0 for payment)...

The Pay It Forward site does mention that in some places, tickets will cost more than $15 and in that case the donor will have to pay the difference, so I suppose it all evens out. The price just stood out to me, because $30 could pay for 5 tickets tomorrow at my hometown Cinemark, with a bit of change left over. There have to be some locals around me seeing the ticket donation site who think, "Hey, wait a minute..." Whereas somebody in a larger market wouldn't think twice.

 

 

Learning about the financial straits of Angel Studios explains a lot, didn't realize they were a spinoff from VidAngel. Their YouTube launch video from a couple years ago stays away from all that:

 

 

 

Edited July 10, 2023 by BoxOfficeFangrl

[TwoMisfits]

So, for DOM box office, as of today, the website now has 3.863M tickets sold.

[TwoMisfits]

And (from Wiki, b/c this research has all been fascinating) the next movie planned from the studio's original content is somehow a sci fi thriller in Dec 23/Jan 24 - The Shift - with Neal McDonough and Sean Astin, and no announced budget.  So, it seems the company is looking at expanding even more beyond "direct" faith based, at least for its theatrical releases (although this release apparently is gonna be more faith flavored than SoF).

Edited July 10, 2023 by TwoMisfits

[Dephira]

2 hours ago, M37 said:

But if all anyone does is see the film and "become educated", again I ask: what actually changes in the life of past/current/potential victim? You couldn't take 15 minutes to Google which organizations have had their hands in this issue for years, but immediately handed over like $50 to Angel Studios? How much do you know about them?

 

This isn't like raising awareness of a social issue, where individuals are directly or indirectly part of the problem, and educating them on downstream effects can alter behavior which then collectively improves over time. Nobody is going to come out of the theater and go "welp, guess I really should stop paying for child prostitutes!"

 

I'm known IRL as often being brutally honestly, so I'm going to stop dancing around it and just skip to the big picture reality: this whole endeavor is a con job, the pay it forward ticket sales program an ingenious way to bilk even more money from people, and the reason you can't see it is ... because I'm sorry to say you're one of the marks

 

Sure, there's some level of nuance beyond that, but that's the underlying reality, and the real reason this film has generated so much discussion. It seems like you mean well, and I know from experience saying that probably won't change your mind, is frankly more likely to harden your position, so feel free to curse me out or put me on ignore or whatever, but hope you can at least respect that I'm willing to treat you like an adult who can hear an uncomfortable truth

At worst this movie is “entertainment” (seems like a wrong word to use, but I hope you get what you mean) that will have no effect on real life, like 99.999% of all cinematic movies. How is that a con job? All movies are released in theaters to make money. 

[titanic2187]

All I know this movie is a surprise hit, and that is all I need to know. This is especially a good news for theater because how bad the Flash and Indy 5 disappoint at the BO, BACK-to-BACK! SoF is a surprise hit we been needing to offset the negative impact from that pair of bomb. If not, the domestic BO will soon eclipsed by China again. 

 

As for whether it is good or bad thing? This is the reality. 47% of the voters voted Republican in 2020 election. Close enough to call it half of the nation. Of the four most populated state, two controlled by Left (CA and NY) and another two controlled by Right (Florida and Texas). No matter from what angle you slice it, that is not small enough for anyone to call it minority group or vocal minority. It is a hard solid half-half. Like it or not, that is the reality that people have to face and coexist with. 

 

 

 

 

[WorkingonaName]

a anti child-trafficking movie beating a Ezra miller movie is based.

[MrHardapple]

That's a nice statement from Mira Sorvino:

Sound of Freedom is NOT a political movie. It’s a beautiful, inspiring film w/an uplifting ending that should ignite a in every viewer’s to get involved to end #childsextrafficking of 2 million+ kids in our day.

 

Edited July 10, 2023 by MrHardapple

[SLAM!]

2 hours ago, TwoMisfits said:

And (from Wiki, b/c this research has all been fascinating) the next movie planned from the studio's original content is somehow a sci fi thriller in Dec 23/Jan 24 - The Shift - with Neal McDonough and Sean Astin, and no announced budget.  So, it seems the company is looking at expanding even more beyond "direct" faith based, at least for its theatrical releases (although this release apparently is gonna be more faith flavored than SoF).

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.

Edited July 10, 2023 by SLAM!

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

32 minutes ago, MrHardapple said:

That's a nice statement from Mira Sorvino:

Sound of Freedom is NOT a political movie. It’s a beautiful, inspiring film w/an uplifting ending that should ignite a in every viewer’s to get involved to end #childsextrafficking of 2 million+ kids in our day.

 

She starred in the miniseries Human Trafficking back in 2005, with Donald Sutherland.

 

 

BTW,  was looking for the trailer on YouTube and it pulled a lot of different movies on the subject, mostly indie stuff or from other countries possibly.

 

It's easy to read something nefarious into Disney not wanting to release Sound of Freedom after the Fox merger, but a thriller like this hardly fits in with the big franchises and $200M animation they're known for now. Maybe under 20th Century, but that's mostly been moderate budget horror and the awards hopefuls too expensive for Searchlight. Anyway, landing outside of a major studio ended up working in SoF's favor in the end.

 

Edited July 10, 2023 by BoxOfficeFangrl

[MightGuy]

5 hours ago, SLAM! said:

Believer here, so I should post my take:

- I like the movie in and of itself

- I dislike Caviezel’s engagement with QAnon, because many of their conspiracies are based in falsehood

- I saw the film before I knew about the ties to QAnon and feel slightly deceived

- If someone wants to see it, I still encourage them to see it, but because I know that they’re the demographic that’s interested

- I want to keep the QAnon stuff in mind as I discuss the movie so that even if people continue seeing the movie, they might not be led astray into believing lies perpetuated by QAnon

- Hey, if people don’t want to see it, if they don’t want to buy tickets, that’s perfectly fine, that’s their right, and I respect their decision especially if it’s a decision made in response to its ties to QAnon

- The cinematography is fantastic, great imagery, and I will campaign this for cinematography at the Boffies even if I’m the butt of a joke for it

- Not Ballard for Hero due to QAnon

- But yes for Trafficking for the Villain category

I just want to say, this is all well and good! 👍 Go ahead and watch the film if you want to. I won't personally, but I'm just one rando. Just want folks to not downplay stuff tied to the film, as some have.

[von Kenni]

5 hours ago, TwoMisfits said:

As for donating profits, see you guys are making me research the studio.

 

Apparently, it's only emerged from bankruptcy in 2021 after its original core idea, filtering content out of main studio movies to make them effectively G rated, was shut down by the 9th circuit after a 4 year lawsuit from the major studios.  So, since Chosen had been an original hit for them, the company rebranded and decided to go the original content route in 2022 with its crowdsourcing "angel investor" concept.  It had $123M in revenue for the entire year (that's revenue, not profit).

 

So, it's an American struggling new indy content studio (aka a small business b/c it also only has 100-250 employees, according to Wiki).  To donate money with its 2nd profitable product (after The Chosen) would probably put it out of business.  It needs to make money on something this year, and it found its way to stay in business 12 more months with this movie.  So, I'm not gonna bash the studio for sticking to its "crowdfunding" concept to try to mount a donation/help campaign for its movie's message - that's all the resources it has.  That's how it's operating on a shoestring.  

 

As for "what makes the most impact" - since I have a leukemia few people have heard of and leukemia doesn't really make it into the "top cancer" zeitgeist, and neither does multiple myeloma (which my mom died of), I understand trying to get folks even aware of an issue so you can start getting funds/people/time dedicated to an issue to help.  I'm usually a walking billboard for my leukemia type when I go out of town b/c so few folks know it, and if they don't know it, no one lobbies for government money for it, no one donates private money for it (unless they already have the disease), and no one cares if there is healthcare coverage for the treatments for it, no one tries to fund research and find cures, etc, etc, etc.  And b/c folks who work get a stigma if they say they have any type of cancer, few of the sufferers under 65 can do this "get out the word" work without fear of being fired.  I can, so I do.  But I get the reason you push to raise awareness.  If folks don't care or do, but it's not THAT important, then it's something that just continually gets ignored, unfunded, and un dealt with.

 

If there was a chronic lymphocytic leukemia movie made, I'd be sending you all tickets and encouraging you to take friends and get the word out...so, I get someone who dealt with this issue day in and day out doing the same...

 

As for me, Variety's review sold me on seeing this movie b/c it was also free, and free is in my price range.  Just like I took Amazon up on Coda last year, I decided to take Angels' pay it forward folks up on their free tickets.  I'm not usually a person who pays for dramas and "true" stories, but then again, I'm not one to pass on free guaranteed seat movies that apparently are quality.  I like movies, and I don't have a lot of money to throw away on $15-$20 tickets/movie.

 

 

Thank you for sharing about your personal situation. I hope all the best and strength to overcome your leukemia. Thank you also for sharing more information and context on the studio.

 

I think what you said about caring is exactly the key first step. People don't act unless they care. If the donating is made easy enough I can imagine many of those tearful grown up men that Baumer mentioned donating to the fight against child trafficking. Especially if there are a lot of Christians that are accustomed to donate into charities in the audience.

[incognitoo]

Great movie, which made a huge emotional impact on me (though I am a sucker for that), with a lot of scenes that were hard to stomach (even if there are no graphic details, what the movie leaves to your imagination is heartbreaking enough). I don't really care for the (private) believes of the main actor or the religious background of the studio that (finally) released the movie. This whole Anon thing (which I had to google to "understand" it) is as stupid as (most) conspiracy theories get, no doubt about that, but in the end strange people tend to believe (in) strange things. So I just ignore it, live and let live (wow, haven't seen that flick for ages). I'll admit I am intrigued to give my two cents on how this movie is (imo) treated unfairly by the US mainstream media, but why even bother when I can see where such a discussion would go. It seems that northern American people nowadays tend to react harshly on many insignificant things, and I am simply not up for a fight in the trenches up in no man's land. Also, I assume I would have to be an American myself to really understand all the necessary context. What I DO understand is that this is a real good movie, and I will watch it again as soon as it is available over here in cinemas or on streaming services. That's all folks.

[Cap]

Quick Mod Update:

 

Mornin' Everyone.  Thank you all for listening to my post in the Weekend Thread and taking all decision of the film here.  We really appreciate that.  This option won out unanimously.  So, keeping that in mind:

 

• kNock It Off
  Ignore
  Report
  Don't Repsond/Reblog
   
• Please remember that any Discussion of this films, aside from its box office data, in any other threads, will result in a 1-point warning, per post made.  Everything needs to stay here.
   
• I would suggest using the good old "I Statements" method with your posting, since people are going to disagree on things.  I think this would be a good way to stop things from coming off the wrong or, or blowing up.  I would appreciate that.
   
• You are free to Discussion the film freely here, but keep in mind that Board Rules Still Apply.  Which means:
  • Keep Things Civil.  No Insulting your fellow board members because you disagree with them.
  • No Racism/Homophobia/Sexism/Ableism.
  • No Spoilers
     
• The Report Button Is Your Friend.  Be a narc.  Report away.  Over report.
   
• No one is forcing you to be here, particularly cause we are keeping the discussion all in one place.  If you're over it, just walk away. It's the easiest thing to do.

 

Godspeed,

 

 

[KGPatt2]

2 hours ago, MrHardapple said:

That's a nice statement from Mira Sorvino:

Sound of Freedom is NOT a political movie. It’s a beautiful, inspiring film w/an uplifting ending that should ignite a in every viewer’s to get involved to end #childsextrafficking of 2 million+ kids in our day.

 

She needs to tell her costar that.

[MrHardapple]

$41,668,249 after week one - these are insane numbers for a little independent film with no real stars in it.

https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Sound-of-Freedom-(2023)#tab=box-office

[baumer]

A lot of you guys know that I believe in a lot of so-called conspiracy theories. I also know a lot of you think I'm a complete nut Job and this can be traced back to whatsapp group that maybe 20 of us were in and probably still exists but I'm no longer part of it. For example I have a massive thread in this site somewhere detailing why 911 was an inside Job. The only reason why I bring this up is to hammer home my next point.

 

Even I think q-anon are a bunch of  idiots. I followed them for a while, I would listen to the things that they had to say and a lot of it was just crazy ridiculous crap. For example a lot of them believed that John f Kennedy Jr was going to come back to life or was never really dead.

 

Having said that I don't think Jim caviezal is big on qanon. Just because he has stated publicly that things like adrenochrome is real that's not a qanon thing. And it doesn't make you a raving psychotic to have the belief that people do kill kids to get their adrenaline flowing and use that blood for whatever they use it for. In places like Vietnam South Korea North Korea Thailand and so on the same kind of theory is used when they torture animals before they eat them. They have the belief that the more scared and in physical pain that an animal is in, the adrenaline creates better tasting meat. So it's not like the adrenochrome theory is something brand new created by qanon.

 

I just wish some of you who have chosen to hate the film before you've seen it would actually give it a chance. Hell, go to the website and take advantage of the tickets that have already been purchased see the movie for free.