Sound of Freedom Attracts Widespread Attention - and Controversy
Spoiler Alert: This article discusses the Sound of Freedom movie and reveals part of the movie's plot.
Sound of Freedom has received much publicity, both positive and negative. Though its production budget was a mere $14.5 million – pocket change by Hollywood standards – it’s quite well done.
The movie deals with sex trafficking of children, a thoroughly unpleasant subject people don’t like to talk about.
The film, released by Angel Studios, was produced by Mexican producer/actor/conservative activist Eduardo Verastegui, who also appears in the movie. The director is Alejandro Gomez Monteverde, a naturalized immigrant from Mexico.
The movie’s protagonist is Tim Ballard, portrayed by actor Jim Caviezel.
Ballard was a special agent for the Department of Homeland Security and then the founder and (until recently) CEO of the anti-sex trafficking group Operation Underground Railroad (OUR).
You would think sexual trafficking of children is a topic that both liberals and conservatives could jointly condemn. But the movie elicited a negative reaction from left-wing media.
Rolling Stone was extremely disdainful of those who watched the film, publishing an article entitled, “‘Sound of Freedom’ Is a Superhero Movie for Dads With Brainworms."
The subtitle reads, “The QAnon-tinged thriller about child-trafficking is designed to appeal to the conscience of a conspiracy-addled boomer."
Sound of Freedom was slammed for fabricating events that didn’t actually happen. But isn’t that true of just about every historical movie? Angel Studios even admitted to this.
There’s a segment of the film in which Ballard journeys into the Colombian jungle and rescues a girl from a guerrilla leader whom Ballard kills in the process. That’s all fiction, and the studio recognizes that.
The movie has been associated with the QAnon movement. Big deal. For years, conservatives have watched movies produced by liberals who are contemptuous of their values. What’s the difference?
Gabran Gray attacks the film in an article entitled, "Everything Sound Of Freedom Gets Wrong About The True Story."
According to Gray, “It misrepresents how trafficking usually happens."
How? Victims “are usually manipulated over a period of time by someone they know, whether that be a family member, friend, or partner.”
In a sense, that’s worse than what’s in the movie!
Gray says, “It misrepresents the victims of trafficking."
How? “Most children who are trafficked are adolescents or teenagers, with the majority falling between the ages of 15 and 17… A minority of trafficking victims are young children, and the sad truth is that of those victims, their parents are often complicit in their trafficking.”
That’s terrible also.
VDARE recently published an article written by Federale, a 24-year veteran of INS and DHS, entitled, "SOUND OF FREEDOM: Alleged Hispanic Child Sex Trafficking Is NOT A Reason To Support Open Borders!"
Federale asserts that “there are few, if any, commercial child sexual exploitation enterprises as shown in the film in the United States."
“Sound of Freedom is more likely to end up as propaganda for those who want to open up America’s borders."
Tim Ballard, to be fair, is not for open borders.
Hannah Bleau of Breitbart, who interviewed Ballard, reported, “When asked what needs to be done to fight these issues, Ballard said it is crucial to ‘enforce the border,’ deeming it the ‘only compassionate policy.’ That, he said, would suck the wind out of the sails of traffickers.”
There is a confusing and technical difference between “human trafficking," which involves transporting involuntary victims, and “people smuggling,” which involves transporting voluntary illegal aliens.
What’s clear is that our border is a humanitarian disaster in which many people, including some who voluntarily cross it, are getting hurt.
In recent years, we’ve seen the growth in arrivals of “unaccompanied minors” and the cynical use of children to get into the U.S. That can’t be a good thing.
We can cooperate with other countries to fight human trafficking, and we certainly must get control of our own border, to prevent all illegal entries, however they are classified.
When is somebody going to make a good film accurately portraying the chaos on our border?
That would be powerful movie.
You can find more of Allan Wall's work at his website.
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