Console best movie i've ever seen.

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

sddavis63 "Freedom" is about an important subject - the Underground Railroad, which helped thousands of slaves escape from the American South to freedom in Canada. However, it's also about another subject - it traces the story of John Newton, the writer of the famous hymn "Amazing Grace," and it provides some background to the story of his religious conversion after his start as a slaveship captain. The story begins with the escape of a slave family from a Virginia plantation, and follows them on their arduous and dangerous journey north. But that story is chopped up by interspersing the Newton story, with the two stories being somewhat awkwardly held together by a Bible that Newton supposedly gave to a young boy he delivered into slavery in Charleston and that gets passed down eventually to his grandson (played by Cuba Gooding, Jr.) - who is the one leading his family to freedom more than a hundred years later. The problem with telling the story this way is that neither the story of the Underground Railroad or the story of Newton's conversion is told in the depth that it probably deserves - especially given that the movie is only about 90 minutes in length and so doesn't have a great deal of time to tell even one of the stories had it focused on just one) and so both stories are somewhat choppy.So the blending of the stories is, as I said, awkward. At times this has a very heavy religious tone with a lot of religious themes (forgiveness, grace, heaven, etc.) That's appropriate in that black slaves really were inspired by Christian faith and that shouldn't be denied, but it seemed a bit too forced at times. There are a lot of hymns and spirituals used in this movie - to the point at which it sometimes seemed as if this was trying to be a musical of some sort. The emphasis on hymns led to at least one anachronism in the movie. With some knowledge of Christian hymnody I was puzzled by the fact that Newton's fiance was singing "It Is Well With My Soul" in church in 1748. That didn't seem right to me, so I quickly researched and, indeed, discovered that the hymn wasn't written until 1876. Somebody really should have checked that out. With so many songs there may have been other musical anachronisms, but that's the one that leaped out at me. I also thought the ending - while perhaps heartwarming - was a bit too far-fetched to be believable.For all that, I liked the movie. It was very watchable and, as I said, it deals with important topics. It makes the point early on of slavery's brutality as a slave that helped the family escape is brutally beaten while the other slaves are forced to watch. This seems - from the closing captions - to be an attempt to link the Underground Railroad and the abolitionist movement of the 19th century with the problem of modern day slavery of various kinds. Those captions note that there are 29 million people (I'm not sure where that number came from, and I've actually seen estimates of close to 50 million) held in various kinds of slavery in the world today and encourages viewers to help eradicate it. By all means we should be doing what we can to achieve that, and if "Freedom" helps to shine some light on that problem, then it's serving a noble purpose. (6/10)

saramgia It was poorly written and acted. Cuba Gooding, Jr.'s character was melodramatic, which provided annoying faux drama. It's a musical, but the music had not been written at the time the movie was set, except for "Amazing Grace," of which you can hear better versions elsewhere. Largely historically inaccurate in all ways. I don't see how anyone could enjoy anything about this movie, except that they ultimately escape despite the lead character's idiocy.

joebauper I had the opportunity to read the original screenplay when it was sent to an actor- friend of mine and it was a marvelous screenplay which I heartily recommended to everyone. It was like a multi-coloured tapestry set during the underground railroad system. As a Brit, we ended slavery before the Americans I'm afraid. However, upon watching the movie, it appears they changed so much of the screenplay it's almost unrecognizable. And that's a pity. This had all the elements of a tour de force movie, but it fell flat. Especially the ending. I remember the screenplay had the lead character saying a very profound speech which matched the motif of John Newton's character where both the slave hunter and Newton find redemption. No such thing in the movie.Anyway I give the film an 8 out of 10 for effort.

Peter Young Australian musical theatre star, Peter Cousens, has reinvented himself as a film director, and his debut feature is not a cheap slasher horror or gritty suburban crime thriller, but a big budget drama tackling important social and historical issues, shot in the US with a big name cast. Aspiring filmmakers should be jealous. I know I am.Coming hot on the heels of Django Unchained and other slavery themed productions, it is easy to dismiss Freedom as Twelve Years A Slave-Lite but Cousens' feature is a very different creature altogether.Screenwriter Timothy A. Chey runs two plot lines in parallel. The first is set in 1856, following slave Samuel Woodward (Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr.) and his family as they escape from a plantation in Richmond, Virginia and begin their dangerous journey to Canada on the Underground Railroad. Not far behind throughout their journey is slave hunter, Plimpton (William Sadler).Almost 100 years earlier, we meet ship captain John Newton (Bernhard Forcher) who is struggling with his faith and conscience as he transports slaves, including Samuel's great grandfather, to the New World.This reviewer found the second plot line to be the least effective. Although developing a human connection to his cargo through a series of incidents at sea, Newton's final expression of kindness is to pen the hymn, "Amazing Grace", not save anybody from their hell-like future existence. I suppose the song does provide Samuel and family some comfort and motivation a century later. It may also have helped my understanding of the film had I been aware that John Newton composed the iconic song. Pardon my ignorance, I assumed it was written by God.Samuel's tale, on the other hand, is a gripping tale of escape and near recapture, and I was willing Gooding Jnr. and co to get across the border throughout the whole 98 minute runtime.Although not a musical, Freedom uses music, in particular singing, as a metaphor for the humanity that we all share. I was moved by some of the numbers, sung in their entirety, such as the joyous singalong between the escapees and a troupe of theatre performers, including Australian musical theatre headliner Tony Sheldon. Less successful were a few songs, performed out of context, musical theatre style, especially Samuel's wife Vanessa (Sharon Leal) breaking into tune whilst walking inside a church. The result was being snapped out of my engrossment and remembering that I was watching a film.Freedom was shot on location in Connecticut. It looks beautiful, courtesy of cinematographer Dean Cundey (Back to the Future, Apollo 13).The cast is wonderful. I have no idea how Cousens' managed to enlist such a lineup for his first feature. Cuba Gooding Jnr. really delivers in his best performance in years as his Samuel struggles between the choice of revenge or freedom. William Sadler is capably menacing as a slave hunter with ethics. Even one of my favourites, Terrence Mann (The Dresden Files, A Chorus Line) makes an appearance.Peter Cousens has concocted a beautiful and haunting film which will appeal to a "Best Exotic Marigold" audience. Despite its religious undertones which frankly did not bother a non-believer like me, Freedom still has plenty to say about slavery, an issue which is just as relevant now as it was in 1748 and 1856.