Even the MAGA Crowd Will Be Bored by New Movie From Director of ‘Sound of Freedom’

Last year, it was hard to avoid Sound of Freedom, the Christian-themed thriller starring Jim Caviezel as Tim Ballard, a real-life former U.S. government operative dedicated to rescuing children ensnared in sex trafficking. A hit with MAGA and QAnon crowds, the film was among 2023’s highest-grossers, in part thanks to a pay-it-forward strategy by faith-based distributor Angel Studios, which has backed projects, as its website puts it, with “wholesome content.” A culture-war lightning rod, Sound of Freedom was a phenomenon more for the surrounding controversy than for anything in the movie, a rudimentary procedural juiced by hyperbolic moral outrage and littered with creepy, anonymously pedophilic bad guys. Imagine a feature-length Law & Order: Special Victims Unit with a bigger budget for exotic location shooting.

Sound of Freedom was directed by Alejandro Monteverde, and this Friday his new movie hits theaters. But those attending Cabrini hoping for more hot-potato discourse—or another overheated story of a red-blooded American kicking some ass—will be sorely disappointed. A muted drama about Mother Francesca Cabrini, the Patron Saint of Immigrants who moved from Italy to New York at the end of the 19th century, determined to care for the city’s homeless, Cabrini is a respectful biopic designed to shed light on a forgotten woman whose charitable acts deserve recognition. It’s also so stultifyingly dutiful you may find yourself missing Sound of Freedom’s tawdry watchability.

Cristiana Dell’Anna plays this strong-willed Italian nun, who has been assigned to Five Points. In 1889, Manhattan was rife with poverty, illness, and racism, with the locals resenting the recent influx of Italian immigrants. Cabrini sees how badly her people are treated in America—hospitals won’t treat Italians, and the unfeeling Archbishop (David Morse) dismisses her activism as futile—but her resolve is unwavering. An entire city of bigots and sexists, including the smug Mayor Gould (John Lithgow), won’t stop her from rescuing those in need, especially innocent children. Resilience is practically etched on her face.

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