Post by StevePulaski on Mar 28, 2017 13:28:11 GMT -5
Priceless (2016)
Directed by: Ben Smallbone
Directed by: Ben Smallbone
Joel Smallbone in Priceless.
Rating: ★★★
Pay attention, independent faith-based dramas of the modern day. You should take a page or two out of Priceless's book.
Ben Smallbone's Priceless finds ways to be both inspiring while also being believable and often difficult to watch. It's a story about two Mexican sisters who are forced into sex slavery upon being transported through the largely barren deserts of New Mexico by a man named James (Joel Smallbone), who discovers the "precious cargo" he's delivering in his box-truck after veering off the road. Ever since losing his wife and daughter after an ugly divorce and custody battle, James has resorted to a life of odd jobs with vague details, such as driving a locked box truck across the country to a motel in order to collect and envelope with a couple thousand dollars in cash.
It's an easy job and it's easy money as far as James is concerned until he finds Antonia (Bianca Santos) and her sixteen-year-old sister Maria (Amber Midthunder) cowering in their own filth in the back of his truck. Initially only speaking Spanish, the girls are frightened but complicit in allowing James to buy them a meal and some new clothes. He inevitably drives them to the location, where they are quickly loaded into an SUV by the sleazy Garo (Jim Parrack), who hands James a manila envelope before driving off. James has made a terrible mistake.
With the help of Dale, played by David Koechner, who gives a convincing dramatic performance for a change, a local hotel owner, James devises a plan to find Garo's prostitution ring in order to rescue Antonia and Maria. At one point, it seems like James has effectively gotten Antonia to safety in his hotel-room, giving one of Garo's goons $1,000 for an hour with her. Antonia, however, won't leave without her sister meanwhile trusting in God's will to keep them together and safe (she doesn't challenge nor even question why God would put her or her sister in this dangerous, life-threatening situation, but that's for another movie I suppose).
Priceless is taut and well-made, effective in its conception because it knows that this story is about the "priceless" people and lives that are affected by sex trafficking, which runs rampant both domestically and internationally. It succeeds because it doesn't sermonize, victim-blame, or use a trite and offensive excuse about Antonia and Maria's unfortunate circumstance being a part of "God's plan." The film details a very real evil done by people who are representations of cold-hearted, even biblical evil.
By making Priceless more about the characters than the actual theology and religious undertones, screenwriters Chris Dowling and Tyler Poelle can deliver a film that's compelling in a narrative sense rather than stagnant in that department to deliver a film that doesn't work for anything other than a Sunday school teaching tool. I would even go out on a limb and say that those who regularly watch films by the Kendrick brothers and Pure Flix Entertainment might be a bit troubled by how gritty Priceless frequently is. Despite its PG-13 rating, the film plays similarly to Taken in terms of how it portrays its culture, not opting for explicit scenes in efforts to stay centered on the likes of James, Antonia, and Maria.
There are parts of Priceless that are indeed incredulous and a bit too cinematic, but it's a huge step in the right direction for faith-based entertainment. The Smallbone family, made up of director Ben, actor Joe, and executive producers David and Luke, has made a Christian film that isn't meant to uplift as much as it is to inform and to depict the stories of people we would rather not be know. The end result is a film that might not be an easy family watch, but could very well be a much-needed one and perhaps hesitance or the very presence of a second thought explains why.
Starring: Joel Smallbone, Bianca Santos, Amber Midthunder, Jim Parrack, and David Koechner. Directed by: Ben Smallbone.