By now, it's no secret that I fancy myself a fan of indie Angel Studios, a Provo, Utah-based outfit responsible for such efforts as Sound of Freedom, Bonhoeffer, and several others. Its latest effort, Truth & Treason, is getting its world premiere this week at Indianapolis's Heartland International Film Festival, an Academy Award-qualifying film festival emphasizing truly moving pictures and the power of cinema to change the world. 

Angel Studios emphasizes "values-based" entertainment. While many, probably most, of its films have a foundation of Christian themes, I'd say that Angel is one of the rare faith-inspired studios to successfully develop crossover material that will appeal to a wide spectrum of audiences. 

Truth & Treason is just such a film. The film centers around 16-year-old Helmuth Hübener (Ewan Horrocks), whose more innocent and youthful ways are set aside when the Nazis take away his longtime friend Salamon (Nye Occomore), a half-Jew. 

Truth & Treason is directed and co-written by Matt Whitaker, screenwriter of 2003 Heartland fave Saints and Soldiers along with a few other films. While Angel has in the past presented more culturally accurate motion pictures, Truth & Treason is definitely a bit more Americanized yet no less riveting in its action and suspense. It helps to have an actor the caliber of Horrocks, quite engaging here as a young man who courageously stood up to Hitler's regime with nothing power but his written word and absolute truth. Risking his life, he worked to outwit one of history's most ruthless secret police forces. 

There's little denying that some will find Truth & Treason still timely and relevant. Whitaker's directorial background has dealt with this type of material behavior, its heaviness uncompromising but never really overwhelming. Horrocks is excellent here as is Rupert Evans as German secret police officer Erwin Mussener. Angel has mastered having at least one familiar face in all its wide releases. Evans, familiar from 2004's Hellboy and The Man in the High Castle, is likely to be one of those actors with whom audiences point at the screen and go "Where do I know him from?" 

Supporting players are impressive as well, again an impressive feature of Angel films in that they tend to have strong ensembles across the board. I think they were a bit surprised when I finally gave one of their films a more modest review after having rather passionately loved most of their early releases. Composer Aaron Zigman's score for the film feels culturally and period-appropriate. Bianca Cline's lensing is intimate and observational in all the best ways. 

Truth & Treason is yet another winning effort from Angel Studios. It's also the latest feature to come out of Heartland's more faith-inspired film industry relationships. I think it may very well have been Heartland to have me first pay attention to the Brigham Young University and LDS film community. While a little quieter these days it seems, both BYU and LDS filmmakers continue to serve up some of the finest faith-based cinema around. 

Destined for wide release in the near future, Truth & Treason is a film you can see first by checking it out this week at Heartland International Film Festival. 

Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic