O preço da liberdade

Priceless reminded me of the film Courageous that appeared free in theatres, sponsored by religious groups I think. Priceless centers around human trafficking of women sold into the sex trade, treated like they are worthless. But as the film so eloquently describes, each one of these women is priceless.

The Smallbone family directs and stars in this low-budget film and delivers a high-value film. James (Joel smallbone) is down and out, having lost basically everything. He gets a chance to make some quick money by driving a cargo truck with no questions asked. He eventually learns his cargo is human, and then he's faced with the choice of saving himself, walking away, saving these young women. At times, you wish he'd just walk away, the odds being so stacked against him.

He meets up with a mysterious hotel owner who befriends him and eventually gives him positive guidance about what doing the right thing really means.

The acting is a bit uneven but decent. The story has some moments that are kind of slow. And of course, you eventually get hit over the head with the religious overtones of this kind of movie. Still, the main theme of being a good person, of doing the right thing when push comes to shove, should resonate with you as a human being.

Priceless is uplifting, if not perfect. It's an enjoyable film worth your time. Enjoy.

After reading so many positive reviews, many a bit too over the top to be honest, however I thought it was worth a shot, no it wasn't. One reviewer called it "amazing". Amazing? Really? No, what it was was slow, and ponderous and B O R I N G. The movie deals with an important subject to be sure, that of sex trafficking, and with a bit of imagination (including a better script and acting), even on a small budget you could do this important subject justice, but not in this case. You never get the feeling of tension, of adrenaline rushing heart pounding fear that our protagonist would expect to feel if he really was put in the situation you see in this movie. I found myself having to force myself to sit through this movie and I don't say that about a lot of movies. If you want to see a REAL heart wrenching movie on this difficult subject, watch Lilya 4-ever. That movie deserves it's high rating, not so Priceless, it should be rated much lower in my opinion.

I had no idea what I was getting into with this movie. Throughout the whole film I kept getting the feeling that it was really trying hard to make the good guy look cool. To make doing the right thing seem like the right thing to do. I really like that. The bad guys weren't overly glorified or vilified either. I don't think they went too far, and it doesn't smack of the in your face over the top cheese-fest that other movies dealing with the subject usually have. I know the story well from made-for-TV movies though never was it so professionally shot or well acted.

There are only a few gripes i have about the movie, and they are personal irks that I can understand probably were taken into consideration and decided against by the creators.

1,) I really wish they had used the word RAPE at any point in the film. Everything else was so honest and boldfaced that it seems a shame to try and sugar coat it with euphemisms and allusions. 2,) The end seems really rushed and cut short. There are a lot of questions left unanswered, but I believe it is because they needed to get their message out after the climax instead of a concise denouement. 3,) They could have done a better job with working in the daughter and her relationship and importance to James. As it is it seems a bit contrived and little fake.

None of those are great detriments, and the message is important too. The movie was legitimately entertaining and kept my attention from very early on. I'm planning on watching it again with certain friends and recommending it as well. I'm glad I saw it.

It's seems wrong to call a movie that deals about human trafficking awesome but it was. The story was good (I like how it shows that human trafficking is happening not just in other countries and not just to Mexicans but to Americans as well) and it had some humor in it too (you have to have some otherwise your body wouldn't be able to handle the suspense). Joel Smallbone was excellent and I didn't hear any breaks (where the person's accent breaks through the accent they're doing) in his American accent, Bianca A. Santos was excellent as Antonia, Amber Midthunder was so cute as Maria and Sierra Rose Smith was adorable as Emmy Stevens. I can't of any time in the movie where there was bad acting.

First off, good movie! I was engaged, as well as impressed. I had pretty low expectations honestly, and it surpassed those.

This movie is, in my opinion, a first for Christian movies. It seeks to cover a subject that's actually important in our non-Christian world today, and does a quite commendable job at doing so.

It had its issues story-wise, but I can't complain. The acting was decent, the actual subject matter was well covered (I mean, come on---it's a family-oriented-ish Christian movie! Didn't expect them to go that deep!), and it wasn't boring. Props to the Smallbone Brothers for going where no Christian filmmaker dare go...until now.