angel Studios is working their magic, trying to loop in a solid audio description team, and bringing butts to the seats for Truth and Treason, a 2025 war drama that didn’t make a sound like freedom, but it did eek out about 6.4 million domestically, and its score was on the shortlist at the Oscars, though ultimately not nominated. Still, to be in the Top 15 scores, that’s a surprise for Angel Studios I’m sure they were pleased about since their content isn’t typically awards friendly.

When I finally got around to this, I was struck. I see the faith based audience heading out to see this, and I see them taking in this story and reacting to it. It really does make me wonder what the messaging here is, and the timing for Angel Studios. For me, I think it is a great time to tell stories about a 17 year old who stood up to a fascist regime on the brink of war, after his best friend was taken and thrown into a concentration camp. Instead of following the rules of Nazi Germany, he finds a short wave radio, picking up the real news not just propoganda, and starts to make his own little pamphlets to spread the truth.

Let’s recap. A fascist leader, his sycophantic followers, war, concentration camps, and realizing the truth doesn’t live in an echo chamber of state media? Is Angel Studios… progressive?

It is kind of a faith based film, in so much that there’s that element of believing God will make it all right in the end, and the evil will be punished for their wickedness, even as our lead makes history as the youngest German protestor to be put to death by a German count for treason. Helmut Hubener is the reason for this film, and the inspirational story he leads really does reverberate today. like, a lot. Part of me wonders how many people sat in the theater, and had their perspective changed, or if it just flew over everyone’s heads.

The truth about this, is that as with most films, like last years One Battle After Another, they were all aiming for release anyway, they just landed in a political minefield. If I take the current American fascist ideals out of the equation, this is still a good, not great, war film. The problem is that there are so many deeply moving and impactful films out there already, as this is a genre that is really hard to mess up. This doesn’t break the mold to lead the pack, but it does still tell a compelling enough story, and does it with the kind of resources I appreciate that keeps it from ever feeling cheap. The performances are good, the screenplay is fine, and that score the Oscars almost nominated is complimentary. But, when you start getting into the family friendly faith based side of war, we miss the violence that was there, the horrors, and that is what every other project isn’t afraid to include.

For years, faith based cinema was so critically underfunded, with the priority going to hiring from inside the church, that most of the product being released was overly preachy, not well written, and poorly acted. We had things like Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas, which is more like a TED talk from Cameron than an actual film. Angel Studios seems willing to invest in making a good product, and telling a story worth being told. Now, if they can only get down to committing to audio description traveling so everyone can watch their faith-based content. Jesus didn’t leave the blind behind, did he?

Truth and Treason oddly hits harder today with its themes, but is surprisingly more than competent coming from Angel Studios.

Fresh: 7.9/10