Film Review: “The Sound of Freedom”

August 23, 2023, 9:04 am 7.7k Views 50 Comments

By JaneTV

There has been a lot of buzz, as well as controversy over the film “The Sound of Freedom” and taking a deeper look proves it’s problematic.

Ed asked if I’d do a review after, apparently, receiving a handful of emails from readers demanding such while touting its glory. To those readers, you probably aren’t going to like my review as I’ll be pointing out facts that surround the film that it’s champions seem to ignore.

“The Sound of Freedom” is a 2023 film that attempts to shine a light on the dark realities of human trafficking and the efforts made to combat this global crisis. Directed by Alejandro Monteverde, this film stars Jim Caviezel, Mira Sorvino, and Bill Camp, bringing to life the true story of Tim Ballard (a former Homeland Security Agent) and his organization, Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.).

We can all agree that human trafficking is awful and should be eradicated. The issue isn’t with human trafficking, but with the people involved in this film and what conspiracy theories they seem to be promoting.

Caviezel, the actor playing Ballard, has been a vocal promoter of QAnon conspiracy theories, specifically the false claim that a group of international elites are abusing and killing children to extract a substance called adrenochrome. Caviezel repeated these claims this summer while promoting the film on Steve Bannon’s podcast. Ballard has also publicly echoed these sentiments. These are wildly untrue claims that are often linked with false stories about child trafficking. 

With the film’s real-life star, investigative reports have found that Ballard and O.U.R. have a long history of making false claims about its work and rescues. VICE News reports Ballard left the organization after an internal investigation into claims made against him by multiple employees.

A smaller mention is one person who donated a small amount of money, anywhere from $10 to $500, in a crowd-funding campaign to assist a production company to acquire distribution rights was arrested on July 21 and charged with  accessory to child kidnapping, according to the Missouri Courts website.

Perhaps some of the loudest critics are those who are actively working to rescue children from child traffickers. Some have argued that the child abduction and aggressive rescue tactics in the film are misleading since most child victims know and trust their traffickers. 

Experts in the field have publicly stated they are worried this film could bring more harm. As we’ve seen with other QAnon conspiracies, it’s followers have reacted violently and killed people based on incorrect information and lies. 

In the film Caviezel is over-acting the part of a macho hero with a heart of gold. It’s watchable, but knowing everything else, it’s cringeworthy. The supporting actors did their best with a mediocre script.

Ultimately, this is a film that attempts to showcase the heroism of rescuing children from bad people, but ultimately, the stereotypes of trafficking are inaccurate causing experts to be fearful of its impacts. Couple that with its lead actor and real-life source being too wrapped up in promoting crazy conspiracy theories, it’s drummed up other questionable minds to rally around the film and denigrate anyone who doesn’t like it as being a pedophile. Yikes.

Next I think I’ll watch “Barbie” instead. 

JaneTV

Written by JaneTV

Jane is a longtime Santa Barbara resident who enjoys watching a variety of movies and television

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  3. This is the first movie in 5 years that my husband I have attended. We both were profoundly moved by the entire movie. It was actually filmed before Qanon even appeared and there is no mention of adrenochrome or other controversial topics. Much has been written against the movie as evidenced by the requested Edhat reviewer. However, when we left the movie, my husband and I both said how can anyone be offended by the content? It is not political at all and is not sensationalized. Actual images from the real operation were included. But it is an extremely uncomfortable topic that many must not wish to face or do not want others to be aware of. The two children who were featured should receive Academy Award nominations but I doubt that will occur. No one who sees this movie will ever be able to wipe the heartbreaking moment of hearing the child say, “Mi nombre is Osito Teddi” (rather than his actual name).
    Human trafficking is a major problem in the United States and a profitable scheme. The traffickers look upon the victims only as commodities to make money. It is such a problem that it exists even here in Santa Barbara to the point there is a cross-agency task force to address this insidious form of human slavery. https://www.traffickstopsb.org/ Children are not for sale.
    Recalling a personal incident: I was surprised to see the initial movie setting was Tegucigalpa, Honduras. I then recalled when my brother was living in another Honduran city over 40 years go (his wife was from Honduras). I was a college student visiting them. One day we all arrived home to find the maid and their 2-year-old daughter missing. They were very concerned, especially his wife since she was aware of child kidnapping. They were at the point of contacting the police and driving around looking for them when thankfully the maid returned with the girl, having taken an unplanned trip to the store. But their fear was palpable. I had forgotten this incident until this movie.

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    • Hi Rac,
      I believe as the author wrote, we can all agree that human trafficking is awful and should not happen. One of the issues is people who work in this area are actively stating this film is inaccurate and can be harmful. Coupled with the fact that people involved in the film are deranged and believe conspiracies, and are actively promoting it to other deranged people with this lies about pedophilia and human trafficking. Remember Matthew Taylor Coleman from SB who murdered his 2 children based on Qanon conspiracies? THAT is the bigger fear here. Hoping others can understand this as well and stop making this a thing where critics are “pro-trafficking.”

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    • 764, exactly.
      People believe a movie, but they won’t listen to the actual survivors of sex trafficking.
      And, when said survivors speak up about the facts of sex trafficking, they are now being harassed by QAnon cult members.
      Listen to the survivors not the actors and people making tens of millions of dollars from this movie.

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  5. This review would have been more impactful if it compared the film’s false portrayal of trafficking to real examples. Rehashing the same straw men like the investor who was accused of crimes just diverts attention from where it is needed most. Modern politics seems to be completely made up of character assassination and false arguments when a factual discussion would be more productive.

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    • EL SMURFO – why shouldn’t we? I change the comedy channel when Dennis Miller comes on (have been for decades) because he’s a jerk and I don’t like his politics. I don’t go to certain country music concerts because the band/singer has politicized their music. I would never watch a movies produced/acted in/financed by a Qanon nut. It’s called protesting with your wallet. It’s nothing new. The Cons have been doing it for years. Look at Bud Light, the NFL, rainbows, etc. Here, look for yourself:
      https://www.netaxpayers.org/archives/4956
      https://acvetfs.com/boycotts/
      As the Cons like to say, take personal responsibility for one’s actions. Words/actions have consequences.

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    • I do avoid films or any content when those involved enmesh a general topic with false information linked to violent extremists and conspiracies. So yes. I don’t like Tom Cruise movies anyway but if he went on every press tour talking about how Mission Impossible is about a cabal of elites molesting children to extract some kind of genetic material then yes, I’d avoid anything he touches.

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    • Thank you @Alex. I’ll go one step further and state the film depicts children being trafficked, which does happen, but the largest percentage of people trafficked are adult women. Children only make up about 20% or so of all traffic victims. Again, it’s feeding into this “save the children” narrative which isn’t totally accurate.

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    • El Smurfo, the problem is not so much that Jim Caviezel is a literal QAnon cult member and certified lunatic who has claimed that children are being murdered to harvest a mythical compound from their bodies which he has noted “one barrel of adrenochrome is worth a thousand barrels of oil” and of course in the QAnon world it’s the liberal elite, Hollywood elite and “the Jews” who are complicit in all of these made up crimes.
      No, it’s not that he is advancing cult ideas which are being used to promote terror tactics, violence and harassment of anyone unlucky enough to end up in QAnon’s cult cross hair targeting machine.
      That’s all pretty darned bad, and if you give your money to this guy, yeah, at least you should know who you are paying.
      The problem is that the movie centers its story on foreigners in some far away land sex trafficking children and glosses over the fact that children are being sex trafficked in pretty much any town USA, including right here, El Smurfo.
      Right. Here.
      And, where is the support for those people? Well, tragically, there is very little support because it’s a lot easier for simple minded and ignorant fools to continue to believe that the problem is somewhere else.
      THAT is the problem with this movie.

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  7. It certainly is a thought-provoking movie that stirs up a lot of emotions. When you go see the movie, please have an open mind, especially if you are one who is offended by the Pledge of Allegiance or the American flag. Not everyone is going to like the movie, but it certainly is doing well at the box office for an independent film. This movie has been playing non-stop locally since July 4th, and is scheduled to continue at least until the end of this month. Some people simply are only going to interpret this movie through “political eyeglasses.” Hopefully, some will be able to put politics aside and view ‘Sound of Freedom’ with an open mind and heart.

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    • There is absolutely no reason to fear this movie. Afterall, it IS a movie that is based on a true story. Like any movie based on a true story, it’s not going to be exactly spot on with the details, but the jist of it certainly is present. Folks who were hesitant to go see it in person were glad that they did attend a showing….some even saw the movie more than once! (Yeah, it’s that good.) To be honest, the movie is not for everyone because some folks are dead-set in their ways and beliefs and “fear” that they actually might agree with the movie….that’s why they’d never/ever watch it in a theater. As far as the actors go and their personal beliefs, my goodness, what’s that all about is all I can say. Go see it and report back and let us know how you were affected….you have nothing to lose except the cost of the ticket and transportation to the theater (hint: take MTD….it’s cheaper than driving yourself and you are helping to save the world).

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    • “especially if you are one who is offended by the Pledge of Allegiance or the American flag.”
      AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!
      Okay, now I get it. Babycakes is literally an AI designed to spew the most ridiculous political shit possible at every opportunity. Whomever wrote that code, bravo, bravo, you had m convinced there was a human behind the handle for quite a while.

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    • BABY – No one here “fears” the movie. Some object to one of the participants personal Q-based beliefs. QAnon is a real and definite thing and it can be dangerous. You’d do well to remember why many here in this town especially are sensitive to that, given the recent tragedy involving a spear gun. All you cons, please spare us the faux outrage though about objecting to a film (or beer or musician or TV show or book, etc) based on the beliefs/actions/philosophy of one of it’s actors. Y’all do it every. single. day.
      I’m off to enjoy a Bud Light while I buy NFL tickets and listen to the Chicks and watch a drag queen talk about racism.

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    • SacJon: I hear you and it seems like we’re pretty much on the same page, except maybe where I used the word “fear” I probably should have used the term “afraid.” If not the “afraid,” then maybe I could have used the term “object” as you did. In any case, it’s all good. To back up the fact that we are almost completely on the same page…
      – Picked up two twelvers of Bud Light yesterday at Rite Aid (way cheap these days).
      – Recently signed up for the NFL package to watch all the games all the time.
      – Don’t really like the Chicks music and would never hold it against anyone who does. We are more into Jeff Beck, Weather Report, Pat Metheny, Kendrick Lamar, Billy Holliday, Little Walter, Frank Zappa and The MOI, Beyoncé, Tom Ball & Kenny Sultan, and others.
      – Love it that you like the drag queen shows, but they’re not like they used to be. Much too tame these days. My brother was very involved in the drag queen scene in San Francisco in the late 80s and early 90s. That was a time when the shows were really/REALLY raunchy. I used to go to his “gigs” regularly. Unfortunately, my brother’s sealed his fate due to his voracious lifestyle. For him, it was a “fabulous” lifestyle….RIP my brother. Sad.
      So, we’re not that different after all is said and done!

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  9. Well, after reading this thread I guess I better do a little research on q-anon. Is it a real threat? Or just a boogeyman? How established is it? How extensive is it? Now that we’re living in a rural area back east it seems nobody has ever heard about it beyond the fact that it exists.

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    • SZQ–LOL!!!!!
      Dude, even Ballard’s own website mentions elements of the movie as being “False”.
      Is there some truth? Sure.
      Also, dig in to the fact that his non-profit is totally suspect in terms of their actually spending money from donors to help kids. Their own 990 forms indicated that. They have something like 50% of the money received from donors held in investments which is completely unacceptable in any legit non-profit. They CLAIM that they spend a certain amount of money on overseas operations but there’s zero substantiation.
      Just dig in if you care, but I suspect you don’t.

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  13. Not much of a film review. Your piece sounds more like a review of the alleged views of the filmmakers. That’s fine, but call it that. I’ve already seen so much talk about this movie, which I admittedly have not seen, but I clicked on this link to read your review of the film. There’s no review there. It’s like saying Braveheart sucked because Mel Gibson is an anti-Semite, or Pulp Fiction was bad because Harvey Weinstein is a sexual predator, or House of Cards should be ignored because Kevin Spacey is a pervert.

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    • MC – so you didn’t read the review. Got it. It’s not just about an actor’s views, it’s also about the message of the film itself:
      “Perhaps some of the loudest critics are those who are actively working to rescue children from child traffickers. Some have argued that the child abduction and aggressive rescue tactics in the film are misleading since most child victims know and trust their traffickers.
      Experts in the field have publicly stated they are worried this film could bring more harm. As we’ve seen with other QAnon conspiracies, it’s followers have reacted violently and killed people based on incorrect information and lies.”
      Weird how people so easily dismiss the views and concerns of EXPERTS in the field of human trafficking.

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