The Sound of Freedom

[maybetoday]

All the reviews are good. Has anyone seen it yet?  


Box-Office Hit “Sound of Freedom” Projected to Make $40 Million in Opening Week!

By Jim Hoft
Jul. 9, 2023 8:00 pm




Actor Jim Caviezel’s latest film Sound of Freedom opened at select theaters on the 4th of July across the United States.



Caviezel, who is most famous for his role of Jesus in The Passion of Christ, went on the War Room to promote his upcoming film “Sound of Freedom” by Angel Studios. The film is based on a true story that exposes the evil of child trafficking.



** You can purchase your tickets here for an exclusive showing on July 4th in theaters across America.



Caviezel worked with several former federal agents and 30 Navy SEALS while filming in Colombia.


Sound of Freedom reportedly beat out Indiana Jones last weekend.



And on Sunday night Angel Studios reported that Sound of Freedom has now hauled in $40 million in sales.



(Provo, UT—July 9, 2023) Angel Studios–a platform and studio empowering filmmakers to crowdfund, create, and distribute films and TV series globally, backed by thousands of Angel investors–is announcing its July cumulative-to-date and opening weekend results for SOUND OF FREEDOM. The Jim Caviezel driven film achieved the number 1 spot on its opening day with the film kicking off its wide US release, and the number 3 spot over its first weekend.



“As with our July 4th numbers, today’s numbers exceed our expectations, and we’re going to continue this momentum. SOUND of FREEDOM has taken on a life of its own. We’re getting messages from all over the country telling us about packed theaters, sold-out theaters, and spontaneous standing ovations for the film in numerous locations. Seeing this film has become a must thanks to incredible word-of-mouth,” said Brandon Purdie, Head of Theatrical Distribution at Angel Studios. “We’re deeply grateful to AMC, Cinemark, Regal, and all our theater partners—and their hard-working theater staff members—for working with us to accommodate the surging demand for this film and having the courage to release SOUND OF FREEDOM during the busiest movie season of the year.”



SOUND OF FREEDOM: Box Office Projections



Theater count: 2,850



Weekend Box Office Projection: $18,200,000



Opening Week Box Office Projection: $40,200,000





SOUND OF FREEDOM: Audience Scores



CinemaScore: A+



Rotten Tomatoes: 76/9

link

[ExquisiteGerbil]

I saw it today; it was a very well-done movie. Of course the actual sordidness of child trafficking wasn't explicitly shown (for example, the children were always fully clothed), but hopefully it will wake people up to the seriousness of the problem and the evil behind it.  I definitely recommend seeing it. 

Of course, the lefties - who despite truth and try to sweep it under the rug - hate it:

Leftist media outlets attack 'Sound of Freedom' movie, claim anti-child trafficking film is QAnon fantasy for the 'conspiracy-addled boomer'

PAUL SACCA
July 08, 2023




Several leftist media outlets have slammed the new "Sound of Freedom" movie, claiming the anti-child trafficking film is a QAnon fantasy for the "conspiracy-addled boomer."



The official synopsis of "Sound of Freedom":



Based on the incredible true story, shines a light on even the darkest of places. After rescuing a young boy from ruthless child traffickers, a federal agent learns the boy’s sister is still captive and decides to embark on a dangerous mission to save her. With time running out, he quits his job and journeys deep into the Colombian jungle, putting his life on the line to free her from a fate worse than death.


"Sound of Freedom" was written and directed by Mexican director Alejandro Monteverde and produced by Mexican producer Eduardo Verástegui. The movie features "The Passion of the Christ" star Jim Caviezel and Academy Award winner Mira Sorvino.



Filming for "Sound of Freedom" ended in 2018, and had a distribution deal with 20th Century Fox. However, the movie was shelved after the Walt Disney Company acquired 20th Century Fox. Disney released the rights to the movies and it was scooped up by Angel Studios.



"Sound of Freedom," with a budget of $14.5 million, outperformed Disney's highly-promoted "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," with costs of nearly $300 million, at the 4th of July box office.



Despite the stunning success of the underdog movie tackling human trafficking that was written and directed by a Mexican director, liberal outlets trashed "Sound of Freedom" as simply a QAnon fantasy.



They don’t want you to see this … Big Tech does its best to limit what news you see. Make sure you see our stories daily — directly to your inbox.


Rolling Stone published an article with title: "'Sound Of Freedom' Is a Superhero Movie for Dads With Brainworms." The sub-headline reads: "The QAnon-tinged thriller about child-trafficking is designed to appeal to the conscience of a conspiracy-addled boomer."



The author accuses the movie of "fomenting moral panic for years over this grossly exaggerated 'epidemic' of child sex-trafficking, much of it funneling people into conspiracist rabbit holes and QAnon communities."



The author slams "Sound of Freedom" for presenting a "hackneyed white savior narrative."



The author attempts to argue that there are worse social issues that should have higher priority than child trafficking.



"There is visible suffering all around us in America. There are poor and unhoused, and people brutalized or killed by police," the Rolling Stone piece reads. "There are mass shootings, lack of healthcare, climate disasters. And yet, over and over, the far right turns to these sordid fantasies about godless monsters hurting children."



The Guardian featured a headline that reads: "'Sound of Freedom': the QAnon-adjacent thriller seducing America."



The author claims that "Sound of Freedom" was funded by an "unsavory network of astroturfed boosterism among the far-right fringe, a constellation of paranoids now attempting to spin a cause célèbre out of a movie with vaguely simpatico leanings."



The author says the movie oozes the "eardrum-perforating frequency of QAnon."



Jezebel, the leftist website for women, ran with the headline: "'Sound of Freedom' Is an Anti-Child Trafficking Fantasy Fit for QAnon."



The article states, "At last, QAnon’s camp appeal gets the cinematic exploration it demands."



The Jezebel writer admits that she was "entertained in some way" by the movie, but suggested the film is propaganda.



Jezebel is owned by G/O Media, a leftist digital media company that recently started publishing error-filled articles written by artificial intelligence bots.



The Washington Post noted that Caviezel "has openly embraced" QAnon ideas. The outlet confessed that "Sound of Freedom" "doesn’t depict anything close to QAnon conspiracy fantasies," and added, "The film’s villains are common criminals, not the shadowy cabal of occultists imagined by QAnoners."



The U.S. State Department states that 27.6 million people could be victims of human trafficking "at any given time."



The International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Walk Free Foundation, in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), released Global Estimates of Modern Slavery in September 2022. This report estimates that, at any given time in 2021, approximately 27.6 million people were in forced labor. Of these, “17.3 million are exploited in the private sector, 6.3 million in forced commercial sexual exploitation, and 3.9 million in forced labor imposed by state.” The definition of forced labor used in this report is based on ILO Forced Labor Convention, 1930 (No. 29), which states in Article 2.1 that forced labor is “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.” This report also estimates that 49.6 million people were in “modern slavery” at any given time in 2021, but this figure includes both the estimate for forced labor and an estimate for forced marriage. Consistent with current implementation of U.S. law, it is recommended to use only the 27.6 million estimate when referring to human trafficking. While some instances of forced marriage may meet the international or U.S. legal definition of human trafficking, not all cases do. Note further that the term “modern slavery” is not defined in international or U.S. law.


link

[schwartzie]

I saw it as well; it was very good. I see the lefties are going nuts trying to discredit it which, IMHO, only lends to its veracity. 


Jim Caviezel Responds to Media Attacks on ‘Sound of Freedom’: ‘They’re Scared. Quaking in Their Boots’


DAVID NG
12 Jul 2023

Actor Jim Caviezel has responded to the growing number of media smears against Sound of Freedom, saying mainstream journalists fear the movie’s success and message.



“They’re scared. Quaking in their boots. And it’s because the public are listening to their hearts, which is what this film tells you to do,” the actor said in a recent Q&A conducted by the movie’s distributor, Angel Studios.



“When there is evil, real evil in the world, and when love is in your heart, boy, evil is just a coward to God.”



Mainstream news outlets have ramped up their attacks on Sound of Freedom since the anti-child-trafficking movie emerged a sleeper hit at the box office. The movie — which was dumped by Disney three years ago — has so far earned $41.7 million and is easily outgrossing Disney’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny on a per-screen basis.



As a result, some journalists are smearing the movie as “QAnon,” which is the left’s catch-all term referring to people who believe that global child-sex trafficking rings exist involving many of the world’s elite.



The term has expanded in recent years to encompass any conservative who believes in a conspiracy theory.



On CNN, left-wing author Mike Rothschild recently mocked Sound of Freedom and Caviezel, claiming they are catering to and supporting QAnon.







The Guardian ran a hit piece on the movie, calling the movie “QAnon-adjacent” and “paranoid,” while Rolling Stone jeered at the movie, calling it a “triumph for QAnon believers.”



Sound of Freedom director Alejandro Monteverde said in the Q&A that the negative media coverage hasn’t deterred the public.



“One thing that’s amazing is, you know, we make movies for the audience. And I understand, you know, the critics world, but I like to focus on the audience, and the audience are responding. They’re the most important for us as filmmakers, as storytellers, and the audience are giving us 100 percent and that’s where I want to stay.


link

[Shoshanna]

I saw the movie and loved it; hopefully it will awaken people to the seriousness of this issue. Meanwhile, we need to pray for the poor kids who are caught up in this evil! 


Nolte: ‘Sound of Freedom’ Soars to $83 Million as ‘Dead Reckoning’ Slips

Angel Studios


Sound of Freedom is no flash in the pan. In its second weekend, the Angel Studios’ phenomenon grossed another $24.7 million, which is an astonishing 26 percent increase over its debut weekend. Currently, THE MOVIE DISNEY DUMPED sits at $83.2 million.



Never forget that the Disney Grooming Syndicate owned Sound of Freedom and then tried to disappear it. Because Jim Caviezel doesn’t age, it’s hard to tell, but Sound of Freedom wrapped in 2018, more than five years ago. When Disney acquired 20th Century Fox in 2019, Disney acquired Sound of Freedom, a movie that is about to become one of the most profitable independent movies of all time.


Obviously, a demonic company like Disney, a company dedicated to grooming kids by sexualizing children’s content with homosexuality, transsexuals, drag queens, and transvestites, does not want anything to do with a movie that depicts the sex trafficking of children as a bad thing. Disney is determined to normalize sex with children, not reinforce the idea that a child’s innocence must be protected. So Disney shelved Sound of Freedom and sat on it. It took five years for the producers to get it back.



Well, because the arc of history bends toward justice, the fetishists at Disney are about to lose a couple hundred million dollars on Indiana Jones and the Dial of Cucking Indiana Jones with a Sexless Co-Star No One Finds Appealing. At the same time, Sound of Freedom has become a money-printing machine.


Everything after about $35 million is pure profit for Sound of Money — er, I mean Sound of Freedom. Already, the people behind this blockbuster have split about $50 million with theaters. That’s $25 million clear and counting.



With its theatrical run far from over, Sound of Freedom’s domestic haul has already topped all but 24 of last year’s biggest-grossing films, including Scream (2022), Morbius, the Best Picture winner Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Woman King, Death on the Nile, etc.



Elsewhere at this weekend’s box office, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One came in below its $90 to $100 million projection with an $80 million haul over an extended five-day opening. If you do not adjust for inflation, that’s a franchise record. Twenty-three years ago, Mission: Impossible II opened to $79 million. Adjusted for inflation, that would be $140 million today.



The good news for Dead Reckoning is the overseas box office. After just five days, by Monday, it should have a worldwide haul of around $240 million. For context, that $240 million nearly ties the worldwide gross of Dial of Kathleen Kennedy’s Latest Franchise-Killing Dud, after 16 days and two full weekends of release.


The bad news for Dead Reckoning is that its production budget is a reported $290 million. Add another $100 million or so for promotion, and you’re pretty close to the reported $430 million the Disney Grooming Syndicate spent on Dial of Dud.



In its third weekend, Dial of Watch Us Emasculate Your Childhood Hero grossed just $11 million for a domestic total of a pathetic $145 million. Kathleen Kennedy’s latest failure won’t come close to $200 million domestic or $500 million worldwide. Break-even is over $800 million.



This is what happens to a studio when it becomes a slave to identity politics, fetishes, and perversions.



Dead Reckoning’s fate will be revealed next weekend. The reviews and word of mouth are about as good as it gets. Oppenheimer and Barbie open next weekend, which is serious competition but not direct competition in the action arena.



Everyone was expecting Top Gun: Maverick numbers for Dead Reckoning, but Maverick was something entirely different. No one had seen a Top Gun movie in 35 years. Moviegoers were curious about what had happened to “Maverick” and “Iceman.” Who are they now? How has their world changed? There’s a big difference between that and another one of those Mission: Impossible movies.


Hollywood has franchised me out. I have full faith Dead Reckoning is non-woke and entertaining. That has nothing to do with my lack of excitement. My enthusiasm gap comes from the fact that I feel like I’ve already seen Dead Reckoning two or three times already, back when it was called Fallout, Rogue Nation, and Ghost Protocol.



Sound of Freedom is the way forward. A modest budget attached to an original story about a topic (be it falling in love or sex trafficking) normal people care about. All you have to do is execute the story well and not undermine it with off-putting gay sex, lectures, shaming, or any other type of woketardery.





The 50th Pride Parade through Central London with over one million participants. (Pietro Recchia/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)



Sound of Freedom isn’t making a fortune because it’s Christian-themed. That certainly helps in an overwhelmingly Christian country, but only a handful of Christian-themed movies have grossed over $80 million. No, it’s making money for the same reason Top Gun: Maverick made money. Normal people love movies, but Hollywood has stopped making movies for normal people. Normal people want to be moved, inspired, transported, and engrossed in well-told stories populated with interesting characters who are not defined by their racial identity or sexual habits. Nothing violates the storytelling spell more than scolding, virtue-signaling, two guys kissing, or a sense of smugness.


This isn’t a difficult formula.



Hollywood managed to accomplish this for, oh, say, about a hundred years.



This strike that has shut down Hollywood is the first time in five years Hollywood has given the public what it wants: no more Hollywood products.



Sound of Freedom is the box office hit of the year, and Disney, which has lost close to a billion dollars on its last eight feature films, gave it up. If that doesn’t put a smile on your face…



link

[ExquisiteGerbil]

‘Sound of Freedom’ Projected to Hit $100 Million at Box Office This Week

Frank Bergman
July 17, 2023 - 8:12 pm


The anti-child trafficking movie “Sound of Freedom” has been beating all expectations at the box office.



The film, starring actor Jim Caviezel as real-life hero Tim Ballard, opened at select theaters on the 4th of July across the United States.



Caviezel, who is most famous for his role as Jesus in “The Passion of Christ,” plays Ballard in the true story about saving children from international child sex trafficking.



The true story exposes the evil of child trafficking that is often ignored by the corporate media and has cast news attention on the issue.



Caviezel worked with several former federal agents and 30 Navy SEALS while filming in Colombia.



On Sunday Angel Studios announced the film has now brought in $85 at the box office. The film is expected to hit $100 million this week.



This is despite the mainstream media doing all it can to persuade Americans not to attend this exceptional film on child trafficking.



Angel Studios reported:



Provo, UT—July 16, 2023



Angel Studios—a platform and studio empowering filmmakers to crowdfund, create, and distribute films and TV series globally, backed by thousands of Angel investors—is announcing its July cumulative-to-date and second weekend results for its Jim Caviezel-driven film SOUND OF FREEDOM. Angel Studios is projecting over $85 million total cumulative box office revenue through Sunday, with a strong $27 million box office draw in the second weekend of the film’s domestic release.



“While the entire summer movie box office lineup is underperforming, our small independent film continues to grow week over week. Driven by millions of fans and supporters, SOUND of FREEDOM has become a national—and soon international—movement for change,” said Jared Geesey, SVP of Global Distribution at Angel Studios.



“There have only been 10 wide-release movies in box office history that have had a second-weekend increase greater than 35% over their opening weekend. All of them achieved this milestone during Christmas. Angel Studios is the only studio to accomplish this feat during the summer blockbuster season with ‘SOUND OF FREEDOM’,” added Brandon Purdie, Head of Theatrical Distribution for Angel Studios.



🚨🚨#breaking @angelstudiosinc movie @sofmovie2023 is projecting $85 Mil Cum, with $100 Mil by this week—our 2nd wknd 35% bigger than our first!#SoundOfFreedom #NotForSale #2MillionFor2Million #SoundOfFeeedom t.co/YjqYXyMPkf



— Matthew Faraci (@matthewfaraci) July 16, 2023



Despite its success in exposing the evil world of child trafficking, “Sound of Freedom,” Caviezel, and Ballard are being smeared by the corporate media, as Slay News reported.



Ballard responded by arguing that there is no justification to spread false claims about the film.



“I can’t explain, and neither can they,” Ballard said.



“This is just some other agenda … who would want to get the backs or run interference for pedophiles and human traffickers?” he added.


“That’s the more important question in all this.



“Why would you want to lie to push an agenda whose goal is to have children be in captivity?



“It’s kind of sick,” he said.

link

[ExquisiteGerbil]

Journalists Attacking The Film ‘Sound Of Freedom’ Should Have Their Hard Drives Investigated

WEDNESDAY, JUL 19, 2023 - 11:55 PM

Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us



I recently went to see the movie Sound Of Freedom with the expectation of a moderate level of political commentary or religious pontificating, given the rabid and widespread attacks on the film by the leftist media. All I knew going in was that the indie production was about child trafficking and that the mainstream media HATES IT. After the film was over, my first thought was that it was an excellent story about a very dark and difficult issue. My second thought was – “What the hell was all the fuss about? There’s not a single political moment in the entire movie!”



The media war on the low budget flick is so bizarre given this fact that I am immediately suspicious of their intentions. Not one political message, not one momentary critique of the political left, not one moment where MAGA or Trump or “Q-Anon” is mentioned, not one “conspiracy theory.” So why all the hate?



Before reading this review any further I highly recommend you check out some of the hatchet job articles published about Sound Of Freedom to get a sense of what I’m talking about – examples are here, here, here and here.



The first thing you’ll probably notice is that the majority of these vitriolic diatribes use the exact same talking points – They suggest that The Sound Of Freedom is based in conspiracy theory, far-right extremism and that it is funded by a subversive network of “Q-Anon adjacent” conservatives. Some journalists have even attacked the veracity of the film’s true story – the career of DHS agent Tim Ballard, who operated covertly to take down child sex traffickers in Central America.



The Guardian asserts:



“Caviezel stars as special agent Tim Ballard, a Homeland Security Investigations operative who really did work for the state busting up child-trafficking rings for more a decade. (Or so he claims – the DHS can neither confirm nor deny the real Ballard’s employment history.) Even if he did not literally have the face of Christ, Ballard would still exude an angelic aura as he gently hoists dirty-faced moppets out of peril with the gravely uttered catchphrase: “God’s children are not for sale.”



Rolling Stone fumes:



“Ballard, Caviezel, and others of their ilk had primed the public to accept Sound of Freedom as a documentary rather than delusion by fomenting moral panic for years over this grossly exaggerated “epidemic” of child sex-trafficking, much of it funneling people into conspiracist rabbit holes and QAnon communities. In short, I was at the movies with people who were there to see their worst fears confirmed.”



Perhaps Rolling Stone has never heard of Epstein’s Island? Why are they pretending like this global criminal enterprise is not a thing?



These reviews are dripping with venom, though a simple investigation into Tim Ballard reveals endless evidence that he did in fact quit his job at DHS to operate in Central America to stop child trafficking rings. And the sting that is the core of the film on an island Ballard set up as a trap to capture an entire network of pedophiles as well as save 120 kids? Yeah, that was real, too.



In fact, there’s a documentary about Tim Ballard’s successful sting called ‘Triple Take’ and the Sound Of Freedom movie includes real life arrest footage from that event. There is no question that almost every detail in Sound Of Freedom is real. Any media outlet that says otherwise is lying, and the fact that they are attempting to sow seeds of doubt about the legitimacy of Tim Ballard based on politics is villainous.


One interesting part of the the film that is NOT accurate was the depiction of a Latin billionaire funding Tim Ballard’s efforts. In reality, Ballard says that it was primarily conservative host Glenn Beck that raised money for his operations that led to the rescue of hundreds of children. Why Glenn Beck was not mentioned in the final cut of the film is hard to say, but Ballard’s connection to Beck might partly explain the media’s fury over the movie. How DARE these conservative men save children from sex slavery, right? It makes conservatives look like (GASP!) good guys.



But there’s something more going on here than mere envy on the part of leftist journalists. The campaign against the movie is far too coordinated and far too expansive (global). It is as if these people are interconnected and they all agreed together to try to subvert the film, or they were all ORDERED to subvert the film.



This kind of behavior suggests a personal stake in creating conditions for failure; it makes it seem like these journalists want to sabotage the movie because of its premise and message. Why would someone want to sabotage a movie which exposes child trafficking and pedophiles? Could it be that we need to check the hard drives of some of these establishment media writers and producers?



I think it’s important to note that such people have been criminally prosecuted for child sex abuse in the past. For example, long time CNN producer John Griffin was recently arrested and convicted of child rape, using online apps to connect with mothers willing to sell their children to him for thousands of dollars so he could abuse them at his Vermont vacation home.



Last year the FBI raided the home of renowned ABC News producer James Gordon Meek and arrested him on charges of transporting child pornography. Rolling Stone Magazine was later accused of trying to cover up the reason for the arrest with selective editing and omission. Rolling Stone is now one of the main outlets attacking Sound Of Freedom.



Maybe the movie makes these journalists angry because it exposes one of their favorite hobbies?



I’m a long time film buff and I can say with some authority that as a movie, Sound Of Freedom is well made and well executed. The overall acting is effective including Jim Caviezel's portrayal of Tim Ballard, the child performances are amazing, the editing is excellent and the cinematography is top notch. The film is good all around; it reminds me of one my favorite movies of all time, a criminal procedural directed by Akira Kurosawa called ‘High And Low’ (also known as ‘Heaven And Hell’ in Japan) about police investigating a child kidnapping.



My only complaint is that I felt they should have shown Tim Ballard with his family a little more, so that when he makes the decision to go to Columbia and risk his life, the choice carries more weight. Other than that, Sound Of Freedom is one of the best dramas I have seen in a long time, and at no point did I feel “preached at.” I can’t say the same for most Hollywood films the past several years, which are replete with non-stop leftist propaganda.



The depiction of the process of child trafficking is very uncomfortable, but it’s meant to be. I rarely squirm in my chair with discomfort or get angry at characters on a screen, but every time there was a scene with a pedophile all I could think was “That guy needs to go in a wood chipper.” That’s good film making.



So again, there are few if any valid criticisms to make about the production itself and the story is largely accurate. Why are leftist journalists raging against this movie? I think because it sheds light on the fact that pedophilia is not only about isolated cases of loners stalking school playgrounds, it’s an international industry worth billions upon billions of dollars, and there are very rich and powerful people involved in that industry (including people in mainstream journalism).



They don’t want people to consider the pervasive nature of this criminal underworld. They want people passive and unaware. For some reason, they want people to assume that child slavery is a conspiracy theory.



Another issue to consider is that the political left has been aggressively targeting children with sexualization for the past several years, primarily through the imposition of trans ideology. They are turning the sexualization of minors into an activist movement. Children as young as kindergarten are being indoctrinated with “gender identity” propaganda and HIGHLY pornographic books (with pornographic images) posing as educational LGBT content are being planted in public schools. We all know what the end game of this movement is – The normalization of pedophilia.



Leftists may be consciously or unconsciously hostile to Sound Of Freedom because when they see the organized networks of child groomers on the big screen, they see themselves.



To conclude: Go see this movie. The media attacks are clearly designed to dissuade people from watching it based on political bias. Check it out and you’ll realize quickly that all their claims are false. Furthermore, you’ll start to wonder aloud why they hate the film? The saying “Methinks thou dost protest too much…” comes to mind, as such journalists reveal their propensity for evil.

link

[Honoria]

Sebastian Gorka: The Story Behind the ‘Sound of Freedom’


DR. SEBASTIAN GORKA
20 Jul 2023

It was the depths of COVID.



For some reason, my wife, Katie, and I had been invited to a private showing of a new movie.



For the record, we both love good movies, but we are not in any “Hollywood clique,” so we were as surprised to receive such an invitation as anyone else would be. Especially so because we were sat next to the star of the film, Jim Caviezel, for the whole duration of the screening.





Sebastian Gorka, “Sound of Freedom” star Jim Caviezel, and Katie Gorka (Photo courtesy of Sebastian Gorka)



Jim should be familiar to any Christian moviegoer, given that his portrayal of our Savior in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ was remarkable. This directorial and acting tour de force is unlike any other telling of the Greatest Story.



As a child, I was shaped by Franco Zeffirelli’s 6-hour long Jesus of Nazareth which would be rebroadcast on British TV at Easter time each year. Calviezel’s portrayal of Jesus is very different than that of the unblinking Robert Powell’s, starting with the fact that in Gibson’s version, Jesus and all his apostles speak in Aramaic, the correct language for the time and place of the Crucifixion story.



Secondly, The Passion of the Christ is the most horrifically accurate portrayal of the torture endured by the Messiah during his scourging and subsequent judicial murder by the Roman state.



Despite the historically accurate depiction of the horrific violence portrayed on screen, even the late, lapsed-Catholic Roger Ebert expressed his respect for Mel Gibson’s film. Caviezel’s new project was also horrific, in another way.



A Labor of Love

The film we had been invited to watch was also based on a true story, an appalling one and a contemporary one.



Today, it is estimated that there are more slaves in the world than at the height of the Civil War that ended it in America. Up to three times more, a staggering 50 million.



Today, it isn’t black Africans kidnapped from their homelands to work on cotton plantations far away. It is men, woman, and children of all colors from all over the globe, very often enslaved to satisfy the sexual desires of the utterly perverse. Sound of Freedom is the story of one man’s mission to save the children so enslaved.



Tim Ballard worked for the CIA before he became an agent for the Department of Homeland Security focusing on stopping the next 9/11, when he was suddenly transferred to working on tracking the cartels smuggling humans across our border with Mexico.



First frustrated that he wasn’t tracking al Qaeda terrorists, Ballard would soon realize that his new mission was of even greater import. As a married man with small children, Ballard’s immersion into the world of child exploitation and the prostitution of minors would change his life forever.



Ballard left the government not long after the events portrayed in the film to establish Operation Underground Railroad, a private venture dedicating to locating and liberating trafficked children — children who, as a “commodity,” are far more lucrative than either drugs or guns because, as Caviezel, who portrays Ballard in the movie, chillingly states, a bag of coke or a gun can only be sold once, but a child can be sold 10 times a day for years and years.


Sound of Freedom is based on a true story about Ballard’s efforts to rescue a child victim of sex-traffickers. The film shows how Ballard, without the sanction or support of the U.S. government, inserts himself as a “client” into the world of modern child-slavery, locates the young girl, and liberates her and her fellow prisoners from a Colombian “pleasure island.” (Sound of Freedom condenses Operation Triple Take into one operation. In reality Ballard’s mission resulted in three raids that freed 123 trafficking victims, 55 of whom were minors).



Sound of Freedom is a beautifully made movie. (For my new review with my friend and superb critic Chris Kohls, please go here.)



Sound of Freedom is also a very important film, for as author Pearl Buck once wrote: “The test of a civilization is the way that it cares for its helpless members.” America and Western civilization must be judged by how we collectively treat the most vulnerable in our society, including the elderly, the unborn, and children. (In one of the most powerful moments of the film, just as he is about to arrest the pedophile trafficker who is about to sell a child to agent Ballard, Ballard quotes our Messiah’s words: “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”) Yet not everyone agrees.





Lucás Ávila and Jim Caviezel in “Sound of Freedom.”



Sound of Freedom has been a phenomenal success since it was released on July 4th weekend. A small budget movie about a very difficult subject has already amassed more than $80 million and even beat the new Indiana Jones movie the weekend it came out. Yet strangely the media establishment hates Caviezel’s latest success. Some film critics have seemingly boycotted reviewing it. And the likes of Rolling Stone, the Washington Post, and The Guardian have all actually gone out of their way to attack the film. Why?



Why would anyone denigrate a well-made film based on a shocking true story about child-trafficking that illuminates a truly global issue? Well, let’s go back to that private screening outside D.C. in the depths of COVID.



Why were we there, and why did it take until this July 4th for Sound of Freedom to be released if Katie and I saw it more than two years ago? The fact is, after the screening, Jim Caviezel and the makers of the film told us the story of what had happened to their labor of love.



The movie had been made for 20th Century Fox and was ready for release when we saw it years ago. Then Disney bought Fox and refused to distribute the film. So, it sat in limbo for years, until the Angel Studios — the incredible God-fearing team behind the TV show The Chosen — came to crowd-fund its distribution and make it the amazing success story it has become. (For the inside story see my interview with Jordan Harmon, Angel co-founder.)



It’s a War

If you ever wondered whether or not we are in a culture war, wonder no more. When global platforms invest and distribute shows such as Cuties, which feign innocence but celebrate the sexualization of minors; when the establishment — from the top of the Biden administration to the third biggest brewer in the world — push transgender ideology; when Disney workers themselves protesting laws designed to protect minors, it all becomes transparent. But their time has come.



From the explosion of new organizations such as Moms for Liberty, predicated on parental rights and the defense of the innocent, to even new gay groups fighting against the sexualization of minors, to both UFC’s Dana White and President Trump buying tickets for employees to see Sound of Freedom and holding private showings with the stars, America is waking up. Will you be part of this new awakening and stand up for the most vulnerable in our world? Start by finding a theater near you to see this crucial work.



Then spread the word.



link