Hollywood often avoids the spiritual themes which have defined the country since its inception.
The 2005 biopic “Walk the Line” downplayed singer Johnny Cash’s deep, abiding faith, leaving longtime fans flustered. The 2014 drama “Unbroken,” directed by Angelina Jolie, did the same to its subject. Jolie honored the remarkable story of Louis Zamperini, the World War II prisoner who overcame insurmountable odds, but neglected to include the faith journey found in Laura Hillenbrand’s bestselling book by the same name.
The team behind “Washington’s Armor,” however, refused to whitewash George Washington’s belief in a higher power.
The new film, showing at SalemNOW, is set 20 years before the Revolutionary War and is based on the book “The Bullet Proof George Washington” by historian David Barton.
A young Washington (Willie Mellina) as both English and French forces battle over land soon to be part of the grand American experiment.
“History needs to be told and preserved,” says “Washington’s Armor” director Tammy Lane in a statement. ”[George Washington] wasn’t perfect, but he was a man of faith who persevered during difficult circumstances. Those around him knew there was something different about him, but Washington knew it was God who kept him protected. He lived out his faith in a remarkable way.”
Salem Media Group CEO David Santrella tells The Daily Wire the movie’s faith focus made it a snug fit for his young streaming platform.
“We don’t want to ignore important spiritual elements of a person’s life like some studios do-especially when it’s so important to the overall story of that person and what motivated them,” says Santrella.
The film explores Washington’s love of country and faith, as well as a humility which set the foundation for a nation that could have embraced royal-like leadership.
Washington is hardly an unfamiliar figure to most Americans. The new film touches on the sense that the country’s first president had a “God-given destiny,” Santrella says, a part of his legacy most mainstream movie studios likely wouldn’t touch.
Washington visited churches during the Revolutionary War, attending places of worship whenever possible during his travels. He later declared that he would not have signed the Constitution had it not embraced religious freedom.
Tinsel Town often uses history to preach about the present. It might be the talent behind a fact-based story blasting current GOP leaders or projects like David O. Russell’s “Amsterdam” which suggests a new wave of fascism is cresting over America’s shores.
“Washington’s Armor,” according to Santrella, sticks to the historical facts. That doesn’t mean the nation’s first president doesn’t offer lessons we all could absorb.
“As Christians we believe in some sense that all of our leaders — the good and the bad ones — are all chosen by God. Sometimes he gives us good leaders that we don’t deserve and sometimes he gives us bad ones that we do,” says Santrella. “So in one sense God is always guiding human affairs, but George Washington had a civility that we can all learn from today.
Like DailyWire+, SalemNOW is just one of several newer platforms to offer faith-friendly, woke-free content for consumers exhausted by mainstream Hollywood messaging. Santrella’s platform offers films, videos and exclusive content, like Salem radio star Dennis Prager’s series on Rosh Hashanah services.
DailyWire+ offers exclusive content like original movies, groundbreaking documentaries, podcasts from leading personalities like Ben Shapiro, Matt Walsh, Candace Owens, Andrew Klavan, Michael Knowles, and leading public intellectual Dr. Jordan Peterson.
Santrella says major platforms are opening up opportunities for newer platforms to draw a bigger crowd. Big tech censorship, and platforms that ignore Red State denizens, only help his platform.
“If Netflix and Amazon continue down the paths they’re on, of censoring content and limiting points of view, we’ll have an abundance of riches,” he says. “In the mean time we’re enjoying their censorship and benefiting from it.”
Amazon temporarily blocked “Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words” in 2021. The platform also declared “What Killed Michael Brown,” a documentary featuring black conservatives like author Shelby Steele, unfit for the platform before backpedaling.
Platforms like SalemNOW still have an uphill battle competing against entrenched studios with gargantuan budgets.
Santrella isn’t afraid.
“We like where we are,” says Santrella, who promises a blend of original content and aggregating existing video on the platform heading into 2023. “We’re nimble and can respond quickly to events and content … the more they ignore their fans and the heartland, the more they create openings for us.”
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of HollywoodInToto.com. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at @HollywoodInToto.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.