Article d'Ey@el

Original en français

We're living in a time when it's dangerous to label each other. Labelling is the worst thing we can do to each other because that breaks any path of communication. So I hope that people come to see the film and that we stop this collective thinking — this collective opinion. We should have our own opinion. I've been in many circumstances where people already had an opinion of the film without even seeing the film. It's just based on other people's opinion. And I hope that here, in France, people go and experience the film for themselves and create their own opinion based on what they think.

~ Alejandro Monteverde

Sound of Freedom by Mexican director Alejandro Monteverde is probably the most controversial movie at the moment. On the one hand, it's a box office smash in America where it hit number one overnight with $14.3 million tickets sold in 2,634 theatres right ahead of Indiana Jones 5 with $11.7 millions in 4,600 theatres (that's twice more). On the other hand, it's being slagged off by Western media as a “conspiratorial” movie featuring “a misrepresentation of the reality of human trafficking” (Wikipedia) while some simply claim it's a “third-rate movie” (BFMTV).

Sophistry's Misfortunes

Filming began in 2018. The majority of the film was shot in Colombia with additional scenes in South California. Sound of Freedom initially had a deal with 20th Century Fox, but when the studio was purchased by Disney, it shelved the film as its subject “did not match Disney's rather consensual editorial line”. Eventually purchased, four years later, by Angel Studio, an independent platform, Sound of Freedom was finally released on 4th July as America celebrated Independence Day, and (in a limited number of theatres) in France via Saje Distribution on 15th November.

Please, note that one of the arguments fuelling the controversy in mainstream media is based on the Christian convictions of the parties involved.

“We were shocked by the controversy around the release of the movie in the USA, last July, as there was such a gap between that and the content of the movie” stated Saje Distribution in a press release following the announcement of the theatrical release of the movie in France. “So far, the movie was obviously impacted by the political antagonisms in America.”

According to French daily Le Parisien, the movie in itself is not conspiratorial, but it would be easy to use it as such: “Conspiracy theories are all implied but never clearly mentioned.” Same goes for Le Monde, claiming that Sound of Freedom “is not a conspirationist movie per se”, but “driven by a cast receptive to this kind of rhetoric”.

Human Correctness

Which is absolutely mind-blowing when you watch the movie unbiasedly. Which side are we supposed to take, by the way, if saving the children is not politically correct?

That is the question independent French journalist Karl Zéro and director Alejandro Monteverde pondered on: “This subject does not belong to any political party. This subject belongs to the human race and we need to transcend that.”

“I don't know anyone who is for child abuse, at least publicly” says Monteverde. “So I thought it would be something that was going to unite us. Which it did with the public. There was a massive division in the media and attacks, but it's always been about creating awareness, because I believe children should be protected by the world.”

Based on A True Story

Sound of Freedom is a thriller based on the incredible true story of Tim Ballard, a former federal agent (brilliantly portrayed by Jim Caviezel) embarking into a rescue operation and risking his life in order to liberate children from the hands of sex traffickers in Colombia.

The real Tim Ballard

Tim Ballard in the movie

Father of nine, Ballard was fully unaware of child trafficking until the CIA appointed him to catch paedophiles. That is when he came to realise that the means allocated to fight this issue — which is far greater than people imagine — were seriously inadequate. Hence in 2013, he decided to quit his official job to create his own non-profit NGO called Operation Underground Railroad standing for O.U.R. Rescue.

He teamed up with former U.S. marines and people from the film industry to film his operations and make hard-hitting documentaries. So far, he's released three, but I could only find two of them. These are Operation Toussaint and The Abolitionists.

“The idea of making a feature film that would strike a blow at even more people naturally followed” says Karl Zéro.

Sound of Freedom is thus a mix of various operations in Haiti and Colombia.

At the end of the movie, we are told that:

Tim [Ballard]'s testimony about the Colombian operation led the United States Congress to pass legislation increasing international cooperation in child trafficking cases.

Human trafficking is a 150 billion dollar-a-year business. The United States is one of the top destinations for human trafficking and is among the largest consumers of child sex.

There are more human trapped in slavery today than any other time in history — including when slavery was legal.

Millions of these slaves are children.

A Deeply Moving and Poignant Film

Having seen Sound of Freedom in its original version, I found it both beautiful, poignant and deeply moving, which naturally leads to rethink many things through. It's a decent movie which, unlike a majority of Hollywood (and TV) productions today, doesn't resort to horrifying visuals and gratuitous violence to shock the minds of the viewers.

This is a movie not without some suspense, featuring beautiful pictures and excellent actors — including the children. Nothing is seen, everything is suggested, which is what actually makes it so effective.

Sound of Freedom is a multifaceted film which thus provides food for thought. That's probably its most upsetting aspect. For beyond the main message aiming at raising public awareness of child trafficking, is the idea of redemption conveyed by the Vampiro character — also known as Batman and based on a real-life character with a few alterations for script commodity — a former money launderer for an infamous drug cartel who, after a sudden awakening, decides to use his ill-gotten money to rescue children.

This just shows that changing course and breaking free of the spiral of evil can be possible. Of course, as Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov says, there's always a price to pay, but there is a way out. No wonder why it's so inconvenient.

When you have learned to act well, when all your actions and all your words are inspired by kindness, purity and disinterestedness, they will not entail any ‘karma’ but will attract beneficial effects. This is called dharma.

~ Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

Ey@el