Thanks for the rundown
@Keith Martin, now the rest of us have even more excuses not to bother going! I did find this a hilarious typo, which suggests that you had a rather interesting third quarter of the film...
Significantly, though, the movie portrays women as being predominantly disinterested in having intimate relationships with me other than during the period in the third quarter of the film
On a different note, I went to Sound of Freedom this morning. It was very, very powerful, better than and more challenging than I was anticipating. Everyone really should see it. Well, particularly sensitive people will struggle with it and can get by with a summary from someone else, but at least someone from each family should see it so the information it conveys is widely known.
It's more epic and heroic than any DC / Marvel action hero movie - because it portrays real heroism in the face of real danger. It's also more tear-jerking than any romance. So, putting those two together, simply as a movie it should appeal to both men and women - which should help to get more people to see it. And the information in it needs to be spread.
What hit me right at the end was when they put up a photo of the real Tim Ballard and his family - and he had seven children. I have seven children. I take the fact that I am a father of seven as a reason that I need to be particularly careful, because I have responsibilities - it's the major reason I don't have a road bike for instance, and why I stop any political activism I may get involved in well short of the line where jail becomes a possibility... I play it safe for the sake of my children.
Tim Ballard did not. He did the exact opposite.
The fact that he had seven children was his reason to risk his life rescuing children - because it's exactly what he would do if they were his own kids.
That I find deeply challenging, as a man. Because Ballard's approach is undeniably the correct one.
It's harder to know "so what do I do then?". I understand we have serious problems with sexual abuse of children in this country also, but it is more of the parents prostituting out their kids variety, not abduction and trafficking by strangers. The only problem with the film (which isn't a failing of it, just the fact you can only cram so much into one movie) is that this side of the industry is not touched on. So it can be completely overlooked by those who view the movie, and they can think this is just a problem in the Americas rather than realising the true global nature of this form of slavery.
But if at least one person from your family hasn't seen this yet, send someone while it's still in the cinema. It's something that is well worth seeing on the big screen.