MOVIE REVIEW: Sound of Freedom is not the best movie, but it's one of the most important
Approximately one million children across the globe are trafficked for sex each year. Often, the victims are not abducted - initially. They are lured by a friendly person who promises a fun or adventurous opportunity. By the time the children realize what’s happening to them, it’s too late. They disappear without a trace. It is believed that only about 2% of child sex trafficking victims are recovered.
Sound of Freedom is a story about searching for exploited children from Central America. The movie is based on the true story of Tim Ballard, a Special Agent Undercover Operator in the Department of Homeland Security, where he is assigned to the Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce. His job entails arresting users of child porn in the United States.
It’s while looking at photographs and videos from one of his cases that Ballard decides he has to do more. After a dozen years arresting end-users of child pornography, Ballard turns to finding the actual sex traffickers and rescuing their young victims.
When Homeland Security tells Ballard he must abort his latest mission in Colombia, he turns in his resignation and relies on the help of various people in Central America to accomplish his goal. On that trip, Ballard claims to have helped rescue 120 children (although in the movie it’s about 50).
Sound of Freedom is gripping without exploiting the topic. We don’t see the grotesque images that Ballard sees, but we realize the horror through his eyes. The children in the movie are not shown in sexual ways, even as the evil intentions of their captors are revealed.
As the movie concludes, the audience is left wondering, “What about all the other children who are trafficked?” Then we read on the screen that Ballard founded Operation Underground Railroad to save children from sex exploitation around the world. The organization’s website states that it has rescued more than 6,000 children and arrested more than 4,000 predators.
(On July 13, it was announced that Ballard had “stepped away” from Operation Underground Railroad, although Ballard allegedly told one of his donors that he was “forced out.”)
The cinematography in Sound of Freedom is beautiful. From the early moments of the film, when a little girl is innocently singing in her bedroom in Honduras, to Ballard’s journey through the forests of Colombia, the imagery feels very real and draws in the audience.
Ballard is played by Jim Caviezel, best known for his depiction of Jesus in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. Caviezel is convincing as the ambitious and compassionate Ballard, although he starts to overdo it about midway through the film. It seems unlikely that a person who cries this much would be strong enough to fight a bunch of gun- and knife-wielding criminals.
Caviezel is at his best when he’s interacting with the children in the movie, especially Miguel (Lucas Avila), an eight-year-old boy who was separated from his sister and trafficked under the name “Teddy Bear.” He also forms a solid relationship with Vampiro (Bill Camp), a former cartel member who now dedicates his life to saving victims of trafficking.
The movie takes liberty with some of the actual events, but that is to be expected. Still, it would have been nice to focus more on reality in some cases.
For example, History vs Hollywood found out that Ballard did not go into the Amazon jungle alone, as his character does in the movie. In real life, he and several members of Operation Underground Railroad posed as doctors and together went into the jungle to try to find a boy who had been kidnapped. This was after the incident depicted in the film. The movie would have been more believable had we seen Ballard’s character on the mission with his team members. Anyone who enjoys movies, though, understands how story lines can be melded together and built into David vs Goliath plots.
Another incident that History vs Hollywood uncovered, and which would have added dimension to the story: The real Ballard says that his wife, Katherine, insisted that he not come home from Colombia until he saved the children. “I called my wife, hoping, hoping she'll say, ‘Get your butt home, are you kidding me? We got six kids to feed,’ Ballard told Daily Signal. “And I want her to say [that], because I was being a coward, but I knew it was the right thing, and…she said, ‘Of course you're gonna stay,’ and I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’”
In Sound of Freedom, Katherine (Mira Sorvino) has very little screen time. When she is shown, she comes off as a supportive but submissive wife. “Whatever my husband does is okay. I’ll just stay home with the kids” seems to be her attitude. How wonderful it would have been to see Sorvino dive into the real Katherine’s personality, allowing her strength to emerge while revealing Ballard’s reluctance and fear. It was a missed opportunity for female character development.
These flaws keep Sound of Freedom from being a great movie; nevertheless, it is good enough to be a very important movie. The realistic interpretation of child sex trafficking creates a sense of urgency among moviegoers. Our eyes have been opened, and we can’t look away. It’s hard to watch this movie and not be affected. (Although tomorrow we’ll take about critics of the film who are downplaying its impact.)
Whether it’s supporting organizations that rescue children from trafficking or learning about the warning signs so we can react to possible trafficking happening in plain sight, we know we have to do something. That’s why you should see the movie, and then commit yourself to making a difference.