Steve Griffin, CEO of Veritas Entertainment, which produced the new movie “Last Ounce of Courage,” says we must work hard to maintain our freedom.
The movie focuses on a small town mayor’s fight to preserve his family and religious freedom after his son is killed at war.
Watch the exclusive interview here.
The film begins with a 1961 quote from Ronald Reagan that was its inspiration. In the quote Reagan warns of a day when we might have to explain to our children what it was like to be free, because we no longer are.
So how did this spur Griffin to make the movie, a process that began four years ago?
“We looked across the country, and there are a lot of things going on,” he told Newsmax.TV’s John Bachman in an exclusive interview. “We believe without doubt that God should be still the centerpiece of our great nation, and family is still important to this great nation. So we looked at these values of faith, family, and freedom and wanted to make a film that would establish a dialogue we could have with our kids to talk about what American used to be like.”
One part of the film was based directly on reality – when the soldier’s son Christian gets in trouble for bringing a Bible to school.
“We have situations across our nation every day where people, it’s not illegal to take a Bible to school, but as we outline and show in the movie, the school administrators many times want to avoid controversy,” Griffin said. “And rather than face the threat of a lawsuit, they make rules that don’t really exist anywhere in our Constitution, anywhere in the U.S. or state laws just to avoid the potential threat of a lawsuit.”
The movie is very supportive of the military, Griffin says. “The message that we’re trying to get across here is our brave men and women are giving their lives every day in the defense of liberties that we take for granted,” he said.
People in the military who have watched the film are very supportive. Their reaction is “’I’m so glad you made this movie. When we come back to America and we see people just doing nothing to defend the liberties that my fellow men and women in the military are dying for, thank you for making this film,’” Griffin said. He said the movie is like “It’s a Wonderful Life” in honor of military members and veterans.
So what should viewers be thinking about the movie as they leave theaters?
“I would take the message of this film as freedom can slip away if we do nothing,” Griffin said. “We’re under attack in this country every day about the things that I grew up with, with liberties and freedoms. And I want the public to establish a dialogue that says simply this: we can lose freedoms if we do nothing. It won’t come from the outside attack, it will come from inside.”
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