The success last year of “Sound of Freedom” the child trafficking film that grossed $250 million and finished in the year’s Top 10 (despite its QAnon associations) has afforded Angel Studios the luxury of funding a series of similarly glossy, upbeat family movies with unusual distribution schemes.
Two come within weeks of each other this summer, both approved by the Angel Guild, a kind of membership viewing club (unlike the old Catholic Legion of Decency that assigned morality-based grades).
Both are meant to uplift, though it means slogging through longer stories than you’d expect. Both are based on true stories whose subjects come on screen at the end to implore more ticket-buying. And both include familiar Hollywood stars, albeit in secondary roles.
“Sight,” which came out last week, is the story of a Chinese-born doctor striving to bring sight to the blind and seeing-impaired in Atlanta. “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot,” out on July 4 (and pictured above), tells of a small Texas town who agreed to provide foster care to as many needy children that they could find.
In “Sight,” Terry Chen, the Canadian actor whose breakout role was playing Ben Fong-Torres in “Almost Famous” two dozen years ago, plays the serious ophthalmologist Ming Wang who devised a way to heal corneas through use of the placenta. He means to use it on a girl from India whose mother blinded her with acid in order to increase their street begging chances.
But he’s plagued by setbacks, self doubt and a series of flashbacks to his own youth when his aims to become a doctor are thwarted by swarms of vague “protestors” who are also anti-science. Unwilling to go into political specifics, there is no mention of Mao or the Cultural Revolution on screen (perhaps still hoping for some international distribution there).
Still, all this disruption causes young Ming (Ben Wang) to struggle through his studies, especially when he loses touch with his girlfriend (Sara Ye), a tragedy that haunts him into middle age — and somehow further inspires him to help this girl from India (the connection is a little muddled there too; but there’s a narrative to complete).
“Sight” is co-written and directed by Andrew Hyatt, who ironically directed a film last year called “The Blind” (but that was about the guy from “Duck Dynasty” and how God saved his life).
Hyatt, who describes himself as a Christian filmmaker, has also made features on the lives of Apostle Paul and Mary of Nazareth, though the religious aspect seems very toned down here.
Wang’s right hand at the hospital is a supportive colleague played by Greg Kinnear, the former talk show host who became an Oscar nominated actor for 1997’s “As Good as It Gets.” His offhand, naturalistic performance here makes everyone else in “Sight” look stiff by contrast. The other familiar face in “Sight” is Irish actress Fionnula Flanagan, as the nun who has brought in the blinded girl (but apparently lacks sufficient faith that God alone would heal the girl).
Besides the extended flashbacks, there are hints at other story lines – a possible romance — as the challenge at hand keeps being delayed. In the end there is enough of a twist as to not made it totally predictable, but still there is enough cheer and uplift all around to have the actual Dr. Wang (who’d been one of the producers of the film) come in and ask for money at the end — not for the Wang Foundation for Sight Restoration, but for Angel Studios, to allow others to see the film.
They call the process “paying it forward,” and it involves viewers putting up more money to allow others to view it for free. As a bonus, they receive “exclusive access to deleted scenes” (please, we’ve seen enough!).
According to the website, $100 will pay for 70 tickets, and there’s a button for $100,000 too, if you want to pay for 200,000 tickets. Fine print next to the QR code warns that this would not be a donation for tax purposes (And how this money is disbursed and tickets actually paid for would be interesting to follow).
The same 10 minute pitch from the actual subjects is tacked onto “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot” as well, following more than two hours of its long story, focused on a East Texas preacher’s wife (the compelling Nina King) to take in foster children.
It’s notion her husband (Demetrius Grosse) gets wind of only when he overhears a phone conversation.
But the Baptist Bishop nevertheless gets on board quickly, even as they adopt a particularly difficult child (Diane Babnicova), who at first chooses to live as a cat (suddenly giving credence to those tall tales about public schools having to install kitty litters to accommodate them).
All this new child-rearing isn’t easy. There is trauma, there is running away, there is healing, there is an awful lot going on (half of which could have been cut). But the rest of the town and congregation are sufficiently inspired that the 700-population outpost, unfortunately named Possum Trot, gets deserved attention and praise after 22 families take in 77 foster children over a 20-year period.
The Hollywood star in this case is Elizabeth Mitchell, playing a regional representative at the state Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, who can’t quite believe the avalanche of charitable action from the tiny town (In one telling scene, a well-funded megachurch can’t be bothered to participate, but throws a few bucks in).
Directed, co-written and -produced by Joshua Weigel, an adoptive parent himself, “Possum Trot” is, of course full of warm, heart-tugging scenes, whose emotional impact is wrung to the fullest by the score from Sean Johnson, who in fact also composed the soundtrack for “Sight.”
With a cumbersome title perhaps conjured to tie it to last summer’s hit “Sound of Freedom,” the new film comes with the just-announced partnership of the ultraconservative Daily Wire — perhaps to get the QAnon crowd as interested as the Christians.
For everyone else, “Possum Trot,” like “Sight,” will come off as a well-made but not exceptional films that may provide some inspiration and hopefulness amid today’s clouds of national doubt and darkness.
Even if they don’t inspire you to pay it forward at the end.