By Jimmy Stopper
The movie, “Priceless” was released in theaters two weekends ago. The lead actor in the movie, Joel Smallbone, is one of the two brothers that make up the Christian music band, “For King and Country.” My wife and I went with another couple to see the movie the first night that it was in the theaters. Oftentimes, low-budget movies with Christian themes get a bad rap for the acting. This was not the case. The acting was good and the story was so powerful.
This movie was made in hopes of bringing light to the growing epidemic of sex trafficking in the U.S. “Priceless” succeeded in opening my eyes. You might think sex trafficking is super rare in areas that we live and work. However, just this week in my town of Apex, NC (voted the #1 small town in America recently), sex trafficking was uncovered at a place called “Touch of Asia.” Captain C. Blair Myhand of the Apex Police explained that investigators learned that women are being brought from China after they answered advertisements to work in the U.S. After the women arrive, they are told they owe money and are sent to brothels, exotic dance clubs and massage parlors to work off the debt.[1] Wow! We drove by this establishment many times and we never knew.
“Priceless” has not gotten much publicity and when I checked, my local theaters are already reducing the numbers of showings at the just the start of the its 3rd week. As Christians, we should support movie makers who are doing their best to bring topics that like this to the forefront. And not only are they bringing this abysmal practice to light, they are working hard to mobilize the church to do something about it. After you see the movie, you might want to take your high school sons and daughters to see it. I know that it was very disturbing for my wife. She was glad that our teenage daughter wasn’t there for the first time she saw it. But she agrees that it’s something that we should engage our daughter with now that we can prepare her ahead of time. Also, don’t wait for it to come out on DVD. Go now while it’s in the theaters so it will stay around longer for others to see and continue to prove to Hollywood that these types of movies are worth making. I’d love to hear your comments after you see the movie.
***Don’t google the movie trailer before you see it. They show all the best parts in the trailer and give the movie away.***
[1] Gallagher, Ron. “Apex Police Charge Prostitution at Massage Parlor – Has Statewide Links.” The News & Observer. (2016, October 21). Retrieved from http://www.newsobserver.com/