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DVD The Freedom of Silence
 Run time: 96 min Rating: 3.8 Genres: Drama Director: Richard Robertson Writers: Steve Larson Stars: Lauren Alfano, Chris Bylsma, Tasha Clark |
| Storyline It’s the year 2030, and the government has outlawed Christianity. Enter Zach Thompson, a brave man who teams up with a friend to hack into the government’s computer system to reclaim religious freedom for Americans. |
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| Plot Keywords: christianity, dystopia, persecution of christians, religious persecution, christian | |
| Details: Country: USA Release Date: 7 January 2012 (USA) |
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DVD The Freedom of Silence
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The premise is that by the year 2030 the government has outlawed Christianity (and presumably other religions) in the name of tolerance and has established an official church. The main character, Zach Thompson is running a small Christian church out of his home and with the help of his friend Aaron, a Navy Seal taught advanced networking security by the government attempts to get the word out to the country about just what the government is doing.
The idea behind the movie is an interesting one, and probably not as outlandish as we would like to believe. The acting is OK and the story has a couple of nice twists.
One thing that jumps out is that this movie is supposed to take place in 2030 but the cars and technology is distinctly 2010.
This not-very-well-produced movie covers societal ills of which perhaps many are unaware. It addresses what's passed off as moral progress and "tolerance" by demonstrating the hypocrisy of its purveyors. The thing is you don't need a Sci-Fi premise to expound and dramatize that. I would have made it a socio/psycho-drama to deal with present day hypocrisy (the social psychosis of political GroupThink and cognitive dissonance). Modern day PC is so constraining and brutish that there are surely hundreds of contexts to dramatize the negative impact in a compelling motion picture. Of course that would cast off the entertainment field's PC too — that thing that disallows anything so real and gritty from entering people's "PC entertainment consciousness" by dealing with a subject of religion unless it's either a biblical account or a dystopian fantasy. This story should be told again, but next time with a serious grain of realism and drama rather than as a fantasy. I gave it a rating of 6 (out of 10) for broaching a taboo subject.
I can't adequately describe how BAD this movie is, except to say that it's so bad it becomes AMAZING. You can't fake this level of ineptitude. Every level of this movie is drenched in sincerity and failure. None of the actors are able to convey any emotion, the writers clearly have no idea how the American government functions, the characters fight against ideologies that LITERALLY NO ONE holds, the music is never quite appropriate, it's set in 2030 but looks like 2003, the effects are hilarious, and the major "terrorist attack" was a mass email and magical hacking of ALL OF THE INTERNET.
Get some friends together, get drunk, and watch this movie. This is the Christian equivalent of The Room or Birdemic. Kick back, grab a drink, and enjoy the delicious, delicious fail.
I can forgive the cars that are ten years old today, and the flea market laptops and the less than believable acting. Recent revelations about the Government spy networks have made some plot devices laughable (they can't track people by their cell phone locations in 2030). Snide remarks about Christianity being outlawed because it is a Hate Group leads directly to the current struggle for Gay equality, and ignores the growing number of Christian churches that accept Homosexuals under the umbrella of Jesus's love, much like He healed the Centurion's lover. Here's some news, the Westboro church, the Watchmen On The Walls, and Focus On the Family really ARE hate groups and should be outlawed for spreading manure without a license. Here's some more news. Jesus loves me and I am Gay as a box of birds. He loves you too. This is not Left Behind, it is more like North Korean propaganda.