While I like the idea and hard work, this looks to have very, very low production values. Why do almost all Catholic and Christian films have such low production values? How many non-Catholics or non-practicing Catholics will see this film? Close to none. Heck, how many practicing Catholics will see it? Very few.
Fr. Z mentions There be Dragons but that film was a huge failure. It lost a lot of money, making Hollywood less likely to invest in future projects like that, and critics hated the story, calling it boring. And it was boring! But also few people saw that film, meaning it will be a footnote to the culture wars, no matter how spiritually powerful it was.
The bottom line is almost everyone who sees this film will already be against the persecution of the Church in the Vendee before they press "play" on their machine. This is preaching to the choir, and instead we need to reach people who would never step foot in a church. How do Catholics and just Christians in general do this in Hollywood? By making a product with a interesting story (not just a spiritually good story, but something which a non-believer would find exciting), good acting, good directing, and so on. Having children actors insures the acting will suffer and the film will not be taken seriously by people who do not already own a whole bunch of Catholic films.
Mel Gibson had high production values on The Passion of the Christ because he was an A list actor for many years and he knows what is needed on films and he knows how to get this done. That is a large part of the reason for the film's success. Yes the film was very powerful spiritually, but the film also had enough money to be made well, and also had people with lots of talent and experience acting, directing, producing, writing, and working as crew members.
Ok, rant over.
The camera work and editing are quite good. The concept is the same as Bugsey Malone, a gangster movies with an all-child’s cast. The novelty will catch the attention of many. Some will ask: what the heck was the Vendee?