Sound of Freedom
Sound of Freedom
Starring Jim Caviezel, Mira Sorvino, Bill Camp, Eduardo Verastegui
Directed by Alejandro Monteverde
Tim Ballard (Jim Caviezel) is a Special Agent for Homeland Security Investigations who puts child pedophile criminals in jail where they belong, but he rarely finds the missing children that are exploited. He is forced to go undercover as a pedophile to draw out one missing child, and learns that he has a sister who's stuck in the sex trade operation in Columbia. Haunted by the fact that this girl is still being used, he embarks on a personal journey to Columbia to find her - and countless other children - who have been sold into sex slavery.
The Good:
"Sound of Freedom" does an amazing job at shedding light on a topic that, as Caviezel's Tim Ballard mentions in the film, "isn't mentioned in polite company." That issue is sex trafficking, and especially when it comes to children. The sex traffic trade is, disgustingly, a profitable job that occurs all over the world, with people (including children) being snatched and sold to sleazy, disgusting, reprehensible people for unspeakable acts. It doesn't exploit its story by focusing on the gruesome details but rather haunts your memory with visuals that you can't see. A few scenes here stand out - when a father unwittingly drops his young children off at what he thinks is a photoshoot, and having the door close...and the camera focus on that door for an uncomfortable period of time with no noise, and when a girl is sold to a guy and is in his bedroom, and he closes the curtains, and we see from the outside him doing so with more silence and more lingering camerawork on that window. You know what's happening, and not seeing it adds a deeper sense of sadness, anger, and putrid disgust to the viewer.
For a smaller budgeted film, the visuals are quite stunning. I was expecting to see some shoddy camerawork, subpar editing, and lackluster visuals, but I was pleasantly surprised overall by the details director Alejandro Monteverde took to tell his story. You can sense his passion for the project, and you know it wasn't for him to make a quick buck, but to tell an important, often silent story and raise awareness of it.
Jim Caviezel really shines as Tim Ballard, and you can tell he's as committed to the role as Monteverde is directing it. He balances the strong typical American hero with sensitivity as his eyes well up with tears a few times, and leads audience members to do the same, especially when he emphatically pleads about saving the children from the sex trade.
The film is loosely based on Ballard's story, and the first half really centers on an event that he came up with to bring down a big sex trafficking cartel in Columbia that rescued over fifty children, and that part of the film is spellbinding. Seeing how he organized the seemingly impossible was fascinating, and you can feel the pulse pounding suspense throughout, even though you know the outcome - Ballard didn't know it at the time. That's why I have such respect for officers who go undercover: their cover can be blown at any moment, threatening not just their lives and the lives of the people they're protecting, but also their family's lives as well.
The Bad:
Although based on Ballard's story, the overarching tale is something that never happened. In the film his main purpose is to rescue to children who were abducted, and that never happened in real life. I never go into a "based on a true story" film expecting 100% authenticity, and this part really doesn't detract me from his real tale.
What did detract me was the second half of the film, where he infiltrates a militia deep in the jungles of Columbia to rescue the girl. Ballard himself said he never went into the jungle himself to rescue a girl nor did he kill anyone unlike what was depicted in the movie. It seemed that this second act was tacked on to create some action suspense when the film didn't need it: the real struggle of finding children without going all Rambo was more than enough to satisfy my dramatic needs.
What was unintentionally funny to me in the film is the quote that most Christians are wanting to include in the Bible (not really, but I wouldn't be surprised if some wanted it there), and that's when Ballard says, "God's children are not for sale." Once he said those words I laughed out loud, and thankfully I was the only one in the theater, because otherwise I might've been crucified. It's a cringe statement through and through, even though the emotion is real.
Christians all over have been flooding social media with praise for the film and how everyone should see it, and basically you're going to hell if you a) don't see it, and b) don't like it. The film has amassed a huge lucrative haul, and you'd expect a film that highlights sex trafficking to donate at least some of its profits to stopping it. Yet that's not happening. At the most they're reimbursing non-profit organizations after they host a viewing party, but from the research I've done none of the actual profits are going to stop sex trafficking. Hopefully I'm wrong, but if not, it's a disservice to the topic that they're addressing.
The Controversy:
There's bound to be controversy with films such as this, and "Sound of Freedom" is no different. Depending on what side of the aisle (or if you sit your butt in an aisle in a church) will determine which controversy you believe, but coming at it from both sides I see the errors in both.
One side claims "Sound of Freedom" is nothing more than QAnon rhetoric set to the big screen, and this belief is fueled by Jim Caviezel himself. As a QAnon believer, Caviezel went on record to say that he believes sex traffickers drain children's blood for their adrenochrome, which supposedly gives anti-aging. Much like Tom Cruise's crazy Scientology beliefs, I can overlook an actor's personal beliefs and appreciate the work they do on the screen. Still, many believe this film supports the QAnon belief, when in reality the film was completed in 2018 - well before QAnon really became a thing. Just because your main actor is a supporter doesn't mean the entire film is an advertisement.
On the other end, supporters of the film claim it to be a devoutly Christian film that theaters don't want to show, going as far as to claim theaters turn off the A/C, pause the film, and even create fires to keep people from watching it. Firstly, this isn't a Christian film, but it does include a few Christian-heavy dialogues, but so does "Pulp Fiction," and no one would say Jules Winnfield is a devout Christian. It's a story that affects everyone who has a conscience, and it goes beyond Christianity.
The Verdict:
Sex trafficking is a lucrative international trade, and "Sound of Freedom" exposes it for the trash it is, especially when it centers on young children - giving viewers something to think about and appreciate their own children a little more.
The Score: A-
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