Christians want more than ‘family friendly’

Viewers of ‘Sound of Freedom’ send mighty message to industry

“Sound of Freedom’s” box office success should compel the writers of “Christian entertainment” to think outside the box about the plots that will attract viewers beyond just church pews.

This movie is a watershed moment where evangelical Christians and Catholics flocked to theaters for content that was the opposite of what tends to occur with Christian entertainment: tug at your heart and make you feel warm at the end. With “Sound of Freedom” recently hitting the $100 million mark–and rising, it is clear this movie has moved far beyond those who attend church or mass–and that’s a good thing.

This movie stars Jim Caviezel, a practicing Catholic in real life, who plays the role of U.S. Homeland Security agent Tim Ballard. The movie leaves you alarmed about the scourge of international child sex trafficking. The movie instructs viewers the U.S. is the top consumer of child sex trafficking. However, the blockbuster summer movie moves viewers beyond information. I wanted to jump into the plot and pound on some pedophiles, one of the most vile abuses of a child by an adult.

It is obvious the success of “Sound of Freedom” has produced a legitimate audience for sensitive content without the gratuitous sex, language, or violence that is standard for Hollywood. If any movie was primed for what Hollywood offers up it was a movie with this content. However, “Sound of Freedom” never crossed lines. Christian movie producers must deliver what people want. 

“Sound of Freedom” beat two movie franchises since it hit theaters. “Sound of Freedom” outpaced “Indiana Jones: The Dial of Destiny” on its opening day, Independence Day, and by its second weekend in theaters. “Sound of Freedom” came in second only to “Mission Impossible” on its second weekend on the big screen. And with the “Oppenheimer" and “Barbie” movies opening going into its third weekend in theaters, “Sound of Freedom” stood to take a major blow, especially with those other movies on more screens. However, “Sound of Freedom” took third for the recent third weekend, July 21-23.just as it did on its opening weekend, now ahead of “Mission Impossible.”

Movies targeted to evangelical Christians will make somewhere between $20 million and $80 million. Those in this category include: “Fireproof,” “Courageous.” “War Room,” “Jesus Revolution,” “God’s Not Dead,” and “I Can Only Imagine.” “Sound of Freedom” could approach or exceed $150 million grossed in theaters by the end of its fourth weekend–July 28-30, which would be 10 times what it cost to make by Disney in 2018. 

Disney shelved “Sound of Freedom,” and Amazon and Netflix rejected it too. That is when Angel Studios, the Christian crowd-funding firm that has pushed the successful TV program “The Chosen,” took it over with a massive public relations campaign ahead of July 4. Brandon Purdie, the head of Angel Studios’ theatrical distribution, reported in a press release how “Sound of Freedom” has made history: 

There have only been 10 wide-release movies in box office history that have had a second-weekend increase greater than 35% over their opening weekend. All of them achieved this milestone during Christmas. Angel Studios is the only studio to accomplish this feat during the summer blockbuster season with ‘Sound of Freedom.’

I saw the movie July Fourth and I knew the subject matter would be intense. I’ll weigh on the side of avoiding spoiler alerts. If you haven’t seen “Sound of Freedom,” please spend the money to do so. You will be better for it. 

The only plot I will share is Caviezel’s character breaks up a pedophile ring at the Mexican border, and with it, he finds Miguel, who is lost in a child sex trafficking ring in the opening scene of the movie with his sister, Rocio. The DHS doesn’t help Caviezel enough to be able to find the children, just prosecute perverts. Caviezel confronts this crisis with his wife, played by Mira Sorvino. The remainder of the movie is Caviezel quitting his DHS job and committing himself to create a pedophile ring and becoming friends with bad guys to find Rocio and reunite her with her brother and father. 

Viewers are left wanting to cry because of what they learn about child sex trafficking and inflict physical harm to the pedophiles. This is a normal human response for anyone with a conscience.

Angel Studios paints this movie as David vs. Goliath, a Christian entertainment company against all of Hollywood. That’s an aspect of the movie’s success, but it is far from the whole story. There are two bigger issues: the departure from the standard “family-friendly” entertainment for Christians; and deeper cultural messages at play with this movie. The latter will be examined in a future second column.

Christians who attend movies targeted to Christians tend to get a soft story. A crisis happens with the main character and the climax and resolution make you feel all's right with the world. These stories are needed, but so much more can be done with “Christian entertainment.”

“Sound of Freedom” does the exact opposite. This values-based movie flips the light switch on perhaps the darkest issue in the world. And people have responded to it, which means movie writers must pay attention.

American culture has heard much about “social justice” in the last decade. “Sound of Freedom” rings the bell from a city on a hill on biblical justice. It shoves the following question in viewers’ faces: “What are you going to do about the fastest growing criminal network the world has ever seen?”

Proverbs 24:11-12 states: 

11 Rescue those who are being taken away to death,

And those who are staggering to the slaughter, Oh hold them back!

12 If you say, “See, we did not know this,”

Does He who weighs the hearts not consider it?

And does He who watches over your soul not know it?

And will He not repay a person according to his work?

It may be far-fetched to think we can end child sex trafficking, but the world would be better off if we do so.