SWORD OF TRUST

Name: SWORD OF TRUST
Item: SWORD OF TRUST
Author: Aaron Minguez

"Don’t Trust the SWORD OF TRUST"

Family Content: -3 Excessive sex, violence, immorality, and/or worldview problems. (Sometimes excessive content such as violence is in otherwise redemptive movies.)

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Credits →

What You Need To Know:

SWORD OF TRUST begins as Cynthia and Mary show up after Cynthia’s grandfather dies. Because the bank owns his home, she is left with an old sword from the Civil War, accompanied by strange contents. There is a certificate of authenticity, with a picture of a Union soldier surrendering this sword to General Lee, and her grandfather letter explaining how this sword proves that the South actually won the Civil War. Shocked, they take it to a local pawn shop, which leads them down a very unexpected journey.

SWORD OF TRUST offers the audience just a little bit of everything in an independent movie with some drama, comedy, and action. The story is unusual but does keep the viewer’s interest without having a entrancing plotline. Regrettably, SWORD OF TRUST follows a primarily negative worldview with the characters making their decision in pursuit of money. There is some redemption toward the end as some characters realize money isn’t as important as other things. There is also some violence, racial elements, homosexuality, and lots of obscenities and profanities. The movie is excessive.

Content:

(PaPaPa, B, C, HoHo, LLL, V, S, DD, MM):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Very strong pagan worldview as greedy characters go to extreme lengths, never trusting anyone else, to sell a material possession in hopes of getting a lot of money for it, the characters even pretend to agree with a heinous belief in order to sell this item, plus some light moral, redemptive content and some homosexual elements where two of the main characters have been in a lesbian relationship for more than four years;

Foul Language:

At least 61 obscenities (mostly “f” words), six GD obscenities, and 10 light profanities;

Violence:

Light amount of violence not including any blood shown, men threaten different people multiple times by holding a screwdriver to their necks, people hold guns up many times to threaten but never shoot anyone, a man is hit with a very dull sword not drawing any blood, woman knocks man out with the handle of a gun;

Sex:

A few crude statements involving ways to express an emotion by way of body parts and some homosexual elements referring to a lesbian couple;

Nudity:

No nudity;

Alcohol Use:

No alcohol use;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

Characters are shown smoking cigarettes a few times, a man sober for 15 years talks about his past of doing drugs, and the woman he loves still struggles with drug use, but it’s never shown; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Strong miscellaneous immorality such as themes of racism throughout (although there are never any directly racist comments, the ideas that many characters follow involve believing that the Confederate Army were the victors in the Civil War and that “the South will rise again”), many elements of lying and deception in the pursuit of money, themes of greed as one of the main characters owns a pawn shop and is not exactly an honest man in order for his profits to be higher, elements of moral relativism, and blackmail.

More Detail:

SWORD OF TRUST is a quirky comedy about a sword from the Civil War that accompanies a letter claiming the Confederacy won the Civil War, which begins a strange pursuit to sell the sword and letter for lots of money. SWORD OF TRUST will hold the audience’s attention with an unusual story and some comedy, but the movie has a strong pagan worldview where greedy characters go to extreme lengths and contains lots of strong foul language and some strong homosexual elements.

The movie begins as a lesbian couple Mary and Cynthia have returned to Cynthia’s late grandfather’s old home to claim her inheritance. They are under the assumption that Cynthia will be receiving his house. However, they’re surprised to learn that, in his later years, Cynthia’s grandfather was forced to take out a reverse mortgage, and so now the bank owns the house.

Confused by this development, Cynthia is presented with an object wrapped in a cloth with a fancy seal, a large envelope and a letter from her grandfather. Inside the cloth, she finds an old sword that’s been passed down from generation to generation in her family, dating back to the Civil War. Inside the envelope, they find a certificate of authenticity and a curious painting of two generals at a table showing the Union general, Ulysses S. Grant, surrendering this particular sword to General Robert E. Lee. In the letter, her grandfather, who had Alzheimer’s disease, goes on to tell her a nonsensical story about how the government has covered up the truth for years. He tells her that, in reality, the Union was cornered, and upon surrendering, the South really won the Civil War.

The women take the sword and the story to the local pawn shop, which is run by a man named Mel. He’s been in this shop for years, knowing almost everyone who comes in by name. When his ex, the love of his life, enters, he denies her request for money by collateral, because of their history of drug abuse in the past. He’s a kind, but frustrated man and doesn’t quite conduct his business with the utmost integrity.

When Mary and Cynthia come in with the sword, Mel offers them a low $400, even when they tell him the story from the letter. Mary, however, swiftly refuses the offer, and they walk out, leaving a number for Mel to call them if he changes his mind.

Thinking there’s no way anyone truly believes the South won the war, Mel and his assistant take to the Internet and find a whole society of people searching for artifacts that could prove just that. He finds out they’re willing to pay up to $40,000 for anything that could really do something for their cause. However, when he calls Mary and Cynthia back to the pawn shop to offer them a few hundred dollars more, Mary senses he knows something he’s not telling them. After some haggling, they come to a 50/50 agreement to split the profits. This agreement leads them down a very strange road, where they have to prove to a radical group of buyers that they are true “believers” in the Confederacy to get the money that was promised.

SWORD OF TRUST offers viewers just a little bit of everything. The movie definitely fits the bill of an independent movie with some drama, comedy and action. The story is very unusual but does keep the viewer’s interest without having a completely entrancing plotline. SWORD OF TRUST is one that could be playing in the background and can be enjoyable without devoting undivided attention to it.

Regrettably, SWORD OF TRUST follows a primarily negative worldview with the characters making their decision solely in pursuit of money. It also contains some homosexual elements because of Mary and Cynthia’s relationship. There is some redemption toward the end as some characters realize money isn’t as important as other things. SWORD OF TRUST also has lots of strong foul language, racial elements and some violence. Overall, media-wise viewers will find SWORD OF TRUST excessive, unacceptable and not worth their time.