If You Liked Sound of Freedom, You’ll Love Bella

Before there was Sound of Freedom, there was Bella. Director Alejandro Monteverde’s first film, Bella has a lot in common with his recent film Sound of Freedom.

They both have the same director, the same actor (Eduardo Verastegui) and the same agenda... to save children.

Bella, put out by Metanoia Films, was also shunned by Hollywood as it struggled to get picked up by a distributor and it was delayed. Both films have an excellent Latin themed soundtrack and amazing acting throughout.

Where they differ is that Bella is specifically about saving an unborn baby girl and it is set in New York. Unlike Sound of Freedom, which is a true story, Bella is a fictional tale. It is, however, based on the many true stories of countless women who find themselves with an unexpected and at first, unwanted pregnancy. 

The real miracle of the award winning Bella is that it actually saved thousands of lives. After they saw the movie women changed their minds and kept their babies. “More than 2,000 babies that we know of have been saved from abortion because of this little movie called ‘Bella.’“ 

There are seven Catholic themes in Bella that emerge in a clever and indirect way…

The first one is what Pope Francis calls the Throw Away Culture. The baby’s father tells Nina to ‘Take care of it” like an abortion is a wisdom tooth extraction. The restaurant she works at is about efficiency at all costs to the point where there becomes an economic value of the person over innate value and human dignity of the employees. It is set in the fast paced hustling and bustling of New York city where the value of human life is cheap. 

Next is The Plight of the Unwed Mother. Over ½ the women of the world experience unwanted pregnancy at some point in their life. Many make sporadic decisions out of fear. Jose, played by Eduardo V. shows empathy for Nina’s situation. Her story is told. The difficulties of her life as a single woman bubble up as we find out that she is from a fatherless, fragmented family. The pro-life slogan, ‘Love them both’ is truly epitomized in this film. 

The Catholic family as a Domestic Church is the third theme. When Jose takes Nina to his parents house she is greeted by a Spanish speaking father, ‘My house is your house’-Welcome! She is invited to eat a meal with the family and the meal itself plays out allegorically like a Catholic Mass. It opens with prayer. The family stories are told. There’s a plentiful and tasty Mexican food banquet. In the background we see a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe and a statue of Joseph. As they share the meal there is  a festive vibe with music, 100% Participation, happiness, dancing, and family rituals and customs are carried out. 

The themes of The Church as Mother and The Church as Kingdom emerge in the character of the mother and father. From the mother in the home, the idea of the Church as mother is shown. She initiates sacrament-like rituals that center on acts of mercy. She offers Nina a bath, offers her clothing, feeds the family and consoles her son Jose. From the father we see the Church as Kingdom. His extraordinary hospitality as head of the house. Ethnic language barriers broken in his home. He is intent on planting a garden of flowers which he calls ‘Paradise’. Garden Imagery in churches symbolizes the Kingdom of God as New Eden. He also refers to his wife as mi reina (my queen).

The other themes that standout are True Love, Faith and Redemption. I don’t want to get into those because it will spoil the experience of watching the film as there are a couple surprises. 

Bella, like Sound of Freedom, is a classic and Catholic, pro-life masterpiece. It exposes the Throw Away Culture, The Culture of Death, which is the same culture that continues to harm children through both abortion and human sex trafficking. 

If you liked Sound of Freedom, don’t forget Alejandro Monteverde and Eduardo's Verastegui’s original film, Bella, that started it all.