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TRUTH & TREASON

“Truth in the Depths of Darkness”

Family Content: -4 Intentional blasphemy, evil, gross immorality, and/or worldview problems. (To be avoided)

Entertainment Quality:

None Light Moderate Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

TRUTH & TREASON is a historical drama about a 16-year-old German boy who wrote scathing letters against Adolph Hitler’s National Socialist regime. In 1941, at the height of World War II, an aspiring young German writer named Helmuth Hubener starts secretly listening to foreign radio broadcasts, including the BBC. Fueled by rage, Helmuth starts writing a series of anonymous leaflets exposing the evils of Hitler’s government. Meanwhile, the Gestapo hunts Helmuth’s identity on account of this treason. Can the young writer survive on truth alone? 

TRUTH & TREASON succeeds on a dramatic, technical and moral level. Its greatest strength lies in its performances, which are superb. TRUTH & TREASON also has strong moral elements about fighting tyranny. Also, the teenage hero and his friends pray to God and quote the Bible multiple times. They also mention Jesus. However, the hero and his two friends are Mormons. So, the movie also promotes Mormonism, which has an unbiblical view of the identity of the historical Jesus. TRUTH & TREASON also has strong scenes of violence, including torture. MOVIEGUIDE® finds the movie excessive and unacceptable. 

Content:

(PaPa, BB, CC, ACACAC, FRFRFR, VV, N, D, MM): 

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

  Strong mixed pagan worldview with strong moral elements where a 16-year-old boy and his friends fight Hitler’s National Socialist tyranny in Germany during World War II, the teenage hero distributes a series of letters exposing the evils of Nazi Germany to his countrymen, the protagonist and his friends pray to God and quote the Bible multiple times, the heroes avoid escaping Germany in order to tell the truth, a writer keeps his cool during a brutal interrogation by the Germans, the hero accepts his fate of getting executed for treason, the heroes positively mention Jesus, but the positive content is mixed with lots of false Mormon theology (there’s a reference to the 12th Article of Faith in Mormonism during a Mormon church service, which states, “We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law,” the article is used to justify excluding a Mormon Church member because he’s Jewish, the Mormon congregation sings the Mormon hymn, “Do What is Right,” and many of the characters speak in Mormon theological terms including the main character saying, “We will see each other again in a better world,” which is terminology referenced in the Book of Mormon;

Foul Language:

  No foul language;

Violence:

  Strong violence throughout, the heroes get physically beaten up by German officers and citizens, a man is flogged by an officer and receives bloody marks on his back, the hero has a dream of his countrymen getting bombed by European planes, the hero gets a knife shoved into his hand during an interrogation, the hero gets chased by an officer through the city, characters mention the Nazi concentration camps for Jews, and a character is executed by guillotine;

Sex:

  No sex scenes or sexual immorality, but a major subplot involves the hero going on a date with a female German writer, and the side characters comment on the hero’s inability to get a date;

Nudity:

  Upper male nudity in two scenes when men wear no shirts;

Alcohol Use:

  No alcohol use;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

  Three scenes of German officers lighting cigars but no drugs; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

  The German government spies on its citizens to find Helmuth’s true identity, some Mormon Church officials betray Christ’s teachings and side with the Nazi Party, a landlord snitches on the heroes for their contraband radio device, and the hero witnesses a friend get taken away by Nazi officers. 

 

More Detail:

TRUTH & TREASON is a historical drama about a 16-year-old teenage German boy who wrote scathing letters against Adolph Hitler’s National Socialist regime. In 1941, at the height of World War II, an aspiring German writer named Helmuth Hubener starts secretly listening to foreign radio broadcasts, including the BBC. Fueled by rage, the author writes a series of anonymous leaflets exposing the evils of Hitler’s government. Meanwhile, the Gestapo hunts Helmuth’s identity on the account of this treason. Can the young writer survive on truth alone? 

TRUTH & TREASON succeeds on a dramatic, technical and moral level. Its greatest strength lies in its performances. The acting is superb, especially in the scenes of Helmuth contemplating his inner struggle between pursuing the truth or running away from evil. 

TRUTH & TREASON has some strong moral elements about young people exposing the evils of Adolph Hitler’s National Socialist tyranny in Germany during World War II. It also has some strong Christian, biblical content where the hero and his friends pray to God and quote the Bible multiple times. A character speaks about Jesus as a revolutionary who spoke the truth and ends in prayer saying, “May we be filled with grace and truth. When the moment comes for us to stand up, may we stand. In Jesus’ name, amen.” 

However, the teenage hero and his two friends are Mormons, which has an unbiblical view of the historical Jesus. Thus, the movie contains false theological elements of Mormonism, including a reference to the 12th Article of Faith during a church service, which states, “We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.” This statement is used to justify excluding a Mormon Church member because he’s Jewish. 

Also, the Mormon congregation sings the Mormon hymn, “Do What is Right.” Many of the characters speak in Mormon theological terms including the main character saying, “We will see each other again in a better world,” which is terminology referenced in the Book of Mormon. 

 Thus, TRUTH & TREASON ultimately has an unacceptable mixed pagan worldview with too much false theology. 

 TRUTH & TREASON also has strong scenes of violence, including some scenes of torture. For example, the hero and his friends get punched and assaulted by their German countrymen. In a few dream sequences, Helmuth imagines planes dropping bombs on his Mormon brethren in the city. Later, a German officer shoves a knife under Helmuth’s fingernail to force him to reveal his secret identity. 

 MOVIEGUIDE® finds the movie excessive and unacceptable.