Sword of Trust Parent Guide

Mel (Marc Maron) runs a tidy little pawnshop in Montgomery, buying and selling the usual assortment of guitars, boots, and useless figurines. That changes, however, when Mary (Michaela Watkins) and Cynthia (Jillian Bell) walk in with a genuine antique: a Civil War era officer’s sword with a convoluted story attached. A story which, if true, could indicate that the Union army had surrendered, and the Confederacy won the war. Of course, the documentation is less than conclusive…but with a buyer willing to pay $50,000 for relics like this, Mel, Mary, and Cynthia agree it’s worth the risk. Even if the buyer seems less than reputable – and maybe a little dangerous.

While this sounds like a goofy political comedy (and there are certainly elements of that), Sword of Trust spends a lot more time exploring its characters than most other comedies. Maron’s approach to Mel’s tragic history and the consequences he lives with give the story more heart than I had anticipated. That sincerity really helps sell the sillier aspects of the story, although it can also make the film feel a little tonally confused at times. For the most part, though, it’s an advantage.

Of course, those familiar with Marc Maron will also know what to expect for content concerns. I mean, the man runs a podcast called WTF with Marc Maron, which should be a bit of a giveaway. There’s a far bit of cussing (heading into 100 swear words), but that is easily the largest problem. I was certainly expecting a raunchier edge to the comedy, but there’s hardly any sexual language here. As comedies go, this is remarkably tame.

The nature of the humor here is obviously political, but it does limit its targets. This isn’t a hit piece on the South or even on the conservatism associated with that part of America. The butt of these jokes are the poor fools who somehow believe that, in defiance of historical fact and documented evidence, the Confederacy won the Civil War, and what’s more, that this somehow matters. In the century and a half since General Lee surrendered at Appomattox, the world has moved on. Re-fighting a war so costly to America doesn’t seem to be in anyone’s best interest. And the film certainly has no interest in rehashing the battles, either. This is about truth, lies, and how the intellectual vacuum we call the internet makes the two much harder to distinguish.