Sound of Freedom

Controversial dramatic thriller less political and religious and more moving than expected.

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I’m an agnostic liberal. I think QAnon and adrenochrome are a bunch of adrenocrap. I don’t buy into Pizzagate. I don’t believe Tom Hanks visited Epstein Island. I have nothing but disdain for former President Donald Trump. I’m not the target audience for “Sound of Freedom” (now in theaters), but that doesn’t mean the movie is without merit.

I don’t understand why a film with the primary goal of dismantling the deplorable child sex trafficking trade has become such a political hot potato? This is something we should all strive for regardless of which side of the aisle you happen to sit. I understand the picture’s star Jim Caviezel has spouted off some crazy shit during his still ongoing promotional tour and previously as well, but sometimes it’s worthwhile to separate the artist from the art. Also, his thoughts and feelings aren’t necessarily indicative of those held by everyone else involved with the production.

“Sound of Freedom” is an important story and apparently a story people wanted to hear. (The film was released on Tuesday, July 6 and as of Tuesday, July 18 it’s made north of $96 million on a $15 million budget.) It sat on a shelf for five years after being dumped by Disney and only received release when producers bought back the rights and subsequently sold ‘em to faith-based shingle Angel Studios.

It’s somewhat troubling to me that the movie has been out for over two weeks and only 38 Rotten Tomatoes-approved critics have bothered to review it. By comparison, “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” aren’t even out yet and have 177 and 161 respective submissions on the aggregator as of this writing. “Sound of Freedom” seems to be a film folks attempted to bury at every turn. I’m one of the only Indianapolis-area critics covering it (my friend and colleague Richard Propes wrote about it here) and I’m doing so two weeks late and mostly because it’s making money and people keep posting and talking about it. I figured I should come to my own conclusions about the work itself … and I must admit it moved me.

There are no mentions of QAnon, adrenochrome, Pizzagate, Hanks, Trump, etc. I could count on one hand blatant religious references, though some of them do reoccur (a St. Timothy medal and the phrase, “God’s children are not for sale,” (a sentiment I agree with BTW) spring to mind.). This is a loose interpretation of a true story concerning Tim Ballard (Caviezel). He’s a Special Agent with Homeland Security Investigations who’s busting perverts who possess and distribute child pornography.

Tim rescues an abducted Honduran boy named Miguel (Lucás Ávila) and reunites him with his father Roberto (José Zúñiga, he was the Agent who made Cyrus the Virus sadder when he lost his bladder in the airplane in “Con Air”). Unfortunately, Miguel’s sister Rocío (Cristal Aparicio) remains missing.

The girl’s disappearance weighs heavily upon Tim and keeps him at a distance from his wife Katherine (Academy Award-winner Mira Sorvino in a nothingburger role) and their many children. Tim goes against the wishes of his supervisor Frost (Kurt Fuller) and travels to Cartagena, Colombia in hopes of finding her. Here he teams with Colombian police officer Jorge (Javier Godino), former cartel accountant Vampiro (esteemed character actor Bill Camp) and billionaire playboy Pablo (Eduardo Verástegui, also a producer on the picture) to set up a sting operation to apprehend predators, rescue Rocío and reunite her with Roberto and Miguel.

“Sound of Freedom” is directed by Alejandro Monteverde (“Bella,” “Little Boy”) and co-written by Monteverde and Rod Barr. The movie is often on the nose (one of the predators looks and laughs like Salacious Crumb, another looks like Marilyn Manson attempting to play a “normie”), but I didn’t find it overtly political nor religious. It’s also not an action movie as advertised, but rather a dramatic thriller. Like him or not, Caviezel is a hugely capable actor and does wonderful work here. He’s strongly supported by Camp, who’s never anything less than interesting on screen.

The suppression of right-leaning voices is part of what led to Trump getting elected in the first place and “Sound of Freedom” isn’t conservative on its face despite the involvement of Caviezel. I’m trying to hear these people out despite often not agreeing with them. (Admittedly, a movie attempting to protect children made and celebrated by folks who took glee in separating kids from their parents at the United States-Mexico border is a bitter pill to swallow.) Then again, protecting children despite their country of origin shouldn’t be a political issue and rather a moral imperative.