Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot (2024)

Content by Tony Macklin. Originally published on July 15, 2024 @ tonymacklin.net.
Is a "true story" truly told?
If it's not, it's no longer true.
Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot - based on a true story - is faithfully told. Its target is a faith-based audience. It has been welcomed by them. The mass audience on Rotten Tomatoes give it a 97% fresh rating.
But how much has it been massaged? It is a feel-good movie that avoids some of the more problematic qualities of the actual happening.
Sound of Hope occurs in a small East Texas Town, where a pastor Reverend WC Martin (Demetrius Grosse) and his wife Donna (Nika KIng) of a rural black church - the Bennett Chapel Missionary Baptist Church - lead their followers to adopt 77 troubled foster children that no one else would take.
As the narrator says 70% are victims of "neglect" and 30% "were "put through hell."
What may be a problem for some viewers is the contrived sentimentality and preachiness of the film.
It would be better without the narration, which states the obvious.
The acting is able, but the screenplay by Joshua Weigel and his wife Rebekah is too often trite. The direction by Weigel relies a lot on generic music.
It is not surprising that Weigel spent much of his career in advertising.
What also could be alarming is the film is distributed by Utah-based Angel studios. Angel picked up the absurdly propagandistic Sound of Freedom (2023), after other studios dropped it.
Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot is less zealous. But how true is it?