Sound of Freedom Review

Sound of Freedom has become one of the most talked about films of 2023 and has been the centre of the culture war. The question is, is this attention justified?

Tim Ballard (Jim Caviezel) is a Homeland Security Agent working in Calexico, California. When he arrests a paedophile, it leads the agent to stop a young boy, Miguel (Lucás Ávila) from being trafficked into to US. Tim promises to find Miguel’s older sister, Rocío (Cristal Paricio) and goes to Columbia to break a sex trafficking ring, even if that means going rogue.

Sound of Freedom had an interesting production and release history. 20^th Century Fox was originally set to release the film in 2018 but was dropped due to the merger with Disney. It was picked up by Angel Studios, a Christian media company. Sound of Freedom also used an unusual marketing strategy due to church block bookings, and the pay-it-forward scheme where people were encouraged to buy tickets for other people. The film even ended with a message from Caviezel encouraging people to buy tickets for other people.

Sound of Freedom has become popular with the QAnon conspiracy theorists. Their basis of belief is the US government is controlled by a cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic paedophiles, and Donald Trump was set to expose them. This group of people are dedicated and vocal online and Ballard and Caviezel have been aligned with the film. Caviezel’s message said that Sound of Freedom had been suppressed and there have been videos accusing cinemas of trying to sabotage the movie.

This political movement has seeped into the reviews. The notorious conspiracy theorist paper The Epoch Times gave the film a perfect score and said to its readers ‘spread the word,’ whilst critics like Mark Kermode and Anna Bogutskaya’s reviews were more focused on political baggage than the film itself. I personally find QAnon and conspiracy theories abhorrent and easily disproven and when researching about Tim Ballard I have found the man to be a shameless self-promoter whose organisation has been ineffective. Ballard had recently been forced to quit Operation Underground Railroad, because of accusations of sexual harassment.

However, audience members who are unaware of the controversy will not see it as a far-right, conspiracy film. It wasn’t about Tim Ballard going to Washington to break up a paedophile ring run by Democrats or investigating a human trafficker and being stopped by the government because it would implicate senior politicians. There was more conspiracy and cover-up in a season of Line of Duty. It would be interesting to see what the reaction to Sound of Freedom will be when the controversy dies down.

Sound of Freedom was a dramatic thriller with some Christian themes. The basic set-up and story weren’t dissimilar to the Channel 4 two-part drama Sex Traffic and the 2012 film Eden. These projects show characters being deceived before being abducted into the sex trade. Sound of Freedom did have an impactful opening where Rocío and Miguel were promised opportunities to be child models and when their father came to collect them they had disappeared. Aparicio shows a lot of promise as her character goes through the unimaginable and suffers through a world of misery. According to her IMDB page, Aparicio is in demand in her native Columbia.

The stereotype of Christian films is they are cheaply made and aimed to pander to the choir. That has been the business model of PureFlix, the company behind the God’s Not Dead series. Sound of Freedom wasn’t subtle about its Christian themes: Ballard was literally called ‘Saint Timothy’ by a child he saves, characters claim they were on a divine mission, and Ballard says ‘God’s children are not for sale.’ However, most viewers would be able to accept the Christian themes, because at the core of the film was a thriller storyline.

Sound of Freedom was made on a budget of $15 million, small for a thriller, but enormous for a Christian film. It meant Sound of Freedom had better production values than most Christian films. Alejandro Monteverde showed himself to be a capable director. He was able to hit the necessary emotional beat, which was easy considering the subject matter, and there was plenty of tension when needed. An example of this was when Ballard and his team were performing a sting operation and Ballard had to stop a violent man from having private time with a young boy. Javier Navarrete, the composer for films like The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth, provided the music and it was fantastic, using a children’s choir throughout.

However, other elements of the direction were a bit too obvious, like some of the paedophiles look like stereotypes, like a nerdy techy and an overweight, sweaty middle-aged man. Caviezel’s performance can be summed up as the tough guy who sheds manly tears.

Bill Camp deserves praise for his performance. He played Vampiro, an ex-cartel accountant who turned and tried to save children from the sex trade. Camp gave a brilliantly tragic monologue where he described why his character set out to save children after making a lot of money through a life of crime. Camp got to say the film’s title and it reminded me of this gag from Family Guy.

Beyond the controversy and heated debate, Sound of Freedom was an average thriller with some solid performances and moments. It will be interesting to see what audiences think of the film in a few years once the noise around it dies down.