Freetown, like director Garrett Batty’s previous film, The Saratov Approach, will sufficiently terrify all mothers wanting to send their kids on a mission. It’s by no means a perfect film. It’s not even a great film. But it definitely is a good film, and an ambitious one at that, with beautiful scenes and a rather engaging story. The very fact that a small band of Utah filmmakers pulled off shooting a feature narrative in Africa, while also trying to tackle difficult subject matters that many of us would rather not face, is quite remarkable and worth the watch. Truth be told, it’s also the first time I’ve ever watched a film and had to google the words “cognitive dissonance.”
