Film Review:
“Sound of Freedom” Is a Heavy-Handed Far Right Fantasy
By Amy Reiter, January 15, 2024
“Hear that?” one (white, male) character in Alejandro Monteverde’s “Sound of Freedom” asks another, as children’s voices swell on the soundtrack and the camera moves toward boys and girls the men have just liberated from sex slavery. “That’s the sound of freedom.”
There’s nothing subtle about Monteverde’s creepy, churchy, purportedly true-story-based film about a Homeland Security agent, Tim Ballard (Jim Caviezel), who is compelled to leave his comfortable life hunting American pedophiles to embark on a mission to Colombia to rescue young victims — except, perhaps, its stealthy success.
Made in 2018 for an estimated $14.5 million, the Christian-conservative-canted thriller, originally set for distribution by 20th Century Fox and then shelved, was released by Angel Studios on July 4, 2023. It earned $14.2 million its first day in theaters, beating Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny at the box office.
With grosses boosted by church-group ticket sales and a “Pay It Forward” promotion, the film has been an undeniable hit. It has been embraced by prominent Republicans, including Donald Trump, and the QAnon crowd, whose conspiracy theories posit the existence of a child sex ring run by Satan-worshiping elites. (Caviezel has parroted QAnon talking points while promoting the film.)
By August 2023, the New York Times called “Sound of Freedom” “one of history’s most successful independent films.” The film, which began streaming December 26 on Amazon Prime Video, where it is listed as “#3 in the US,” has now earned nearly $251 million worldwide, according to IMDB.
No doubt, “Sound of Freedom” is a phenomenon. But, from a mainstream moviegoer perspective, is it an entertaining film?
Short answer: No.
The film is heavy-handed and clunky, with characters and dialogue that are laughably cliche. Its not-quite-believable plot is propelled by White Male Savior Syndrome and features implicit conspiracy theories and, arguably, antisemitic undertones: “You want me to believe you’re one of us? You think I’m that stupid?” a slimy, bespectacled pedophile, Ernst Oshinsky, asks Ballard, before stupidly falling for his trap.
Filmed partly in Colombia, the film features some lush scenery. But at more than two hours, it is also overly long, manipulatively scored and unpleasant to sit through.
A Tough Guy’s Tear
The plot centers on Ballard, who becomes single-mindedly focused on saving a Honduran brother and sister who have been lured away from their loving father (José Zúñiga) by a woman purporting to be a talent agent (Yessica Borroto Perryman), who sells them into sex slavery. (The real Tim Ballard, who founded the anti-sex trafficking organization Operation Underground Railroad, has been accused of embellishing his work; he left the organization amidst a sexual-harassment investigation, Vice News reported in September.)
“God’s children are not for sale,” Ballard says in the film. (Angel Studios sells American flag-emblazoned T-shirts featuring the phrase.)
The cast, headed by Caviezel, who played Jesus in Mel Gibson’s 2004 film “The Passion of the Christ,” is largely wasted. Caviezel shows little range as Ballard, a man determined to save children and, apparently, never to crack a smile. We know this tough guy has a soft heart because, as he works, we see, in closeup, a single tear pool in his eye.
Academy Award-winning actress Mira Sorvino, meanwhile, is reduced to, essentially, a cardboard cutout as Ballard’s quietly supportive wife, Katherine.
It is left to Bill Camp, as Vampiro, a rehabilitated cartel member turned trafficked-children rescuer, to bring some Hawaiian-shirt-wearing, cigar-smoking life to the pedantic proceedings. “Don’t ever step into my office again looking like you’ve just walked out of a freaking Banana Republic ad … lighten up,” he growls at Ballard. It’s a rare laugh line.
Unwitting Creepiness
Lucás Ávila and Cristal Aparicio, as imperiled brother and sister Miguel and Rocío, are adorable. Ávila, all big eyes and sweetness, is especially appealing. However, the way the film casts a sexualizing adult gaze on these young actors is, frankly, stomach-turning.
To be clear, the sexual interaction between children and adults is only suggested: a doctor alludes to “lacerations”; a man drunkenly swaggers in to encounter a terrified child; another stands beside a bed and reaches for his belt. Curtains and eyes close at key moments, mercifully obscuring our view. And the film likely deliberately aims to disturb, with a goal, one assumes, of prompting action.
Still, by displaying these children, at the traffickers’ urging, posing sexily for the camera and, later, attracting predators with their innocence, the film, wittingly or not, edges uncomfortably close to the sort of behavior it vilifies.
Amy Reiter is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Daily Beast, Salon, and numerous other print and online publications.
Interested in more news about right wing media curated especially for mainstream audiences? Subscribe to our free daily newsletter.
“Sound of Freedom,” which just dropped on Amazon Prime, is heavy-handed and clunky, with characters and dialogue that are laughably cliche. Jim Caviezel (second from right) shows little range as a man determined to save children and, apparently, never to crack a smile. (Image: Angel Studios)
