Check It Out: Using ingenuity to influence our culture

By Joan Janzen

While prosecuting a robbery case, the arresting officer testified he saw the defendant from a block away. The officer’s observation of seeing someone a block away in the dark seemed irrelevant until he was asked how he could identify the defendant. The arresting officer replied, “I’d recognize my cousin anywhere!”

If someone is described as irrelevant, it means people are not paying attention to them. However, there are examples of people who were once considered irrelevant who busted out of that mould; the San Francisco 49ers’ Brock Purdy is one of those individuals.

He was the 262nd (or final) pick of the last NFL draft and was dubbed Mr. Irrelevant. Evaluators appeared to place value on what he lacked in size rather than his strengths.

Everything changed for him in week 12 when the quarterback broke his foot, opening the door for Purdy to trot onto the field. Mr. Irrelevant led the 49ers to the NFC championship and suddenly became relevant.

This transformation has been happening throughout history, and an upcoming film illustrates the metamorphosis that took place in the life of a historical hero in the movie entitled “Cabrini.” The film is produced by Angel Studios, a production company that would have been dubbed as irrelevant six or seven years ago, but that is no longer the case.

The company’s last film, “Sound of Freedom,” made over $240 million and was watched by over 60 million people. Glen Beck spoke to the studio’s president, Jordan Harmon, in a recent interview.

Beck said, “The problem with making films is you can’t get them into the theatres because you need the big Hollywood studios to distribute it.

Walt Disney tried to create its own distribution company, which is almost impossible to do. How do you get theatres to accept your movie?”

Jordan responded, saying, “We created an Angel guild; a group of over 200,00 people that’s growing rapidly. They are the gatekeepers to all Angel content.” Unlike Hollywood, where five or six executives decide what films are produced, the group of 200,000 individuals gets to decide what Angel Studios creates.

“Part of our model is helping theatres give us more screens by having a direct relationship with them,” Jordan explained. People can purchase theatre tickets prior to the movie’s release date; this signals to theatres what content patrons want to see. “The theatres love what we are doing,” he added.

Once a few theatres sell out, the theatre chains get on board and open it up to their theatres, which gives the film a massive opening.

“Angel Studios has found a way to go directly to the people,” Beck noted.

Jordan said they chose this particular story because it tells the story of a real woman who showed her determination and the power of God to change the world in a miraculous way. The film is set to be released on March 8th and has already been booked at 2000 locations.

“If it wasn’t released by Angel Studios, it would win best picture. It’s that good,” Beck said. The movie tells the story of Frances Cabrini, who was born in Italy in 1850, the youngest of a family of 13 kids. She grew up to be fragile, sickly and deathly afraid of water.

Nevertheless, she founded a missionary group with seven other women, and made numerous trips from Europe to New York, where she helped Italian immigrants amidst chaos and poverty. She established 67 schools, hospitals and orphanages in the United States, Europe and Central and South America.

It was said that despite her frail health, her total trust in God was her outstanding personality characteristic and the source of an inner strength that propelled her to remarkable accomplishments in a relatively short amount of time. An irrelevant youngest child of a family of 13 became extremely relevant as an adult.

People who want to see the film can purchase tickets online and join the Angel Guild if they so desire.

“They picked Shania Twain’s music to back this up, which is so weird to how this film looks, but it is a brilliant strategy,” Beck explained. “For those who went to see what a strong woman is like and watched Barbie,  I suggest giving this movie a shot.”

Although her story is more than a century old, the transition from irrelevant to relevant is still occurring today. Individuals and businesses are using ingenuity, becoming relevant, and influencing our culture in a positive way.