Post by Rob W. Case on Jul 19, 2023 19:30:11 GMT -6
How far would you go to act on a principle or conviction that moves you? To what lengths would you sacrifice your financial security, well-being, and status to save other people’s lives? To what extent would you go beyond these things and risk your life in areas entrenched in life-threatening danger, knowing that you may never see your family again? Such is the story of Tim Ballard, in his quest to bust an international child trafficking ring.
The Story:
The movie begins with Homeland Security Special Investigations operative Tim Ballard (Jim Caveziel), whose career in breaking up child pornography and sex trafficking rings takes on a new challenge. A father’s two children, Miguel (Lucas Avila) and Rocio (Cristal Aparicio) are kidnapped and sold into sex slavery, along with a bunch of other children, by a syndicate in South America. Miguel, who is marketed as “teddy bear”, is rented to an upper middle-aged man for sexual services. Ballard’s research and resources at the Department of Homeland Security pin down the man who has Miguel in his custody, and Miguel is rescued. The problem that lies is that no one knows where his sister Rocio is.
Ballard appeals to his boss Frost (Kurt Fuller) to try and track down Miguel’s sister, and Frost puts in a special request to his superiors to secure a mission and funding for Ballard. Ballard’s research leads him to Cartegena, Columbia, where he meets up with a former cartel accountant by the name of Vampiro (Bill Camp), who now works to free children from sex trafficking. An interesting backstory leads to Vampiro’s convictions and his passion to fulfill this task. Ballard and Vampiro’s collaboration leads to an ultimate plan to free as many children as possible, but it will require extreme patience, some heavy shrewdness, acting, deception, and strategy to accomplish this. Vampiro assembles a Columbian police officer and a wealthy guy named Paul to convince the traffickers that they want to build a paradise hotel on a beautiful island to conduct trafficking business for clients interested in children. This is a huge feat for Ballard and Vampiro, as they have to coolly and calmly assemble the heaviest hitters (the “heads” if you will) of the child trafficking ring (whom they are personally repulsed by), to convince them to put their guard down, earn their trust, and “open up” to act in order to make this hotel idea happen.
This carefully coordinated sting strategy ends up bringing 52 children to the island, of which Rocio is not a part of. When things get real serious, Ballard is informed that continued funding for his mission is not approved by the DHS, so he is told to pack up and go home. Ballard resigns his position, going rogue, with the moral support of his wife (Mira Sorvino), and things take a more dangerous turn, as Ballard finds out that Rocio was sold to the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia, deep into a dangerous, unmapped jungle that is also a no-fly zone. Ballard and Vampiro try to pursue her, but the only chance they have to make it in and out alive, is to pose as doctors delivering vaccines in the region. The suspense, drama, and action builds up as the danger gets heavier and the probability of rescuing Rocio gets likelier.
My Take:
This is a very well-made movie with a strong moral purpose behind it. In the movie, Ballard makes the comment, “Ordinary people don’t want to hear about [sex trafficking]. It’s too ugly for polite conversation.” Unfortunately, that is very true, so it slips within the confines of obscurity. What this movie does, in its own unique way, is that it takes Tim Ballard’s impressive personal experience in this field as a whole, as well as tells the captivating story of his mission provoked by moral conviction, which in turn generates intrigue, drama, action, and suspense that makes the art of raising awareness towards this subject, fruitful, meaningful, and purposeful without getting too ugly and depressing, and I think that’s worthy of commending.
Politics & Obstacles at Every Turn:
One would think that something as hideous as child sex trafficking would be openly condemned and abhorred by most people with influence. But unfortunately, it isn’t. As the movie states in its facts at the end, child sex trafficking is a $150 billion industry with the United States as its biggest consumer. That said, people in influential positions, like in politics, the media, Hollywood, etc. have either tried to thwart the distribution of this film, try to discredit it, try to marginalize, and/or criticize it in such a way to try and discourage you from seeing it. It is a disturbing thing to see when this is based on a true story. On top of that, it took this film 5 years before it was distributed commercially. In other words, this film was shot in 2018, but distributed in 2023. Angel Studios, the independent inspirational studio that produces the smash hit series The Chosen, took the helm and the risk at distributing this film, and at the time of this writing, it has amassed over $96 million in the first couple weeks that it’s been out.
The film’s tagline: God’s children are not for sale.
Out of 4 stars, I give Sound of Freedom 4 stars.
The film is rated PG-13 and runs 2 hours and 11 minutes.
To view a trailer for the movie, please click on the “play” button below.
Trailer 1:
Trailer 2:
Trailer 3:
Sound of Freedom is currently in theaters everywhere. For more information, visit www.angel.com/tickets/sound-of-freedom to see where a theater near you is playing it.
The Story:
The movie begins with Homeland Security Special Investigations operative Tim Ballard (Jim Caveziel), whose career in breaking up child pornography and sex trafficking rings takes on a new challenge. A father’s two children, Miguel (Lucas Avila) and Rocio (Cristal Aparicio) are kidnapped and sold into sex slavery, along with a bunch of other children, by a syndicate in South America. Miguel, who is marketed as “teddy bear”, is rented to an upper middle-aged man for sexual services. Ballard’s research and resources at the Department of Homeland Security pin down the man who has Miguel in his custody, and Miguel is rescued. The problem that lies is that no one knows where his sister Rocio is.
Ballard appeals to his boss Frost (Kurt Fuller) to try and track down Miguel’s sister, and Frost puts in a special request to his superiors to secure a mission and funding for Ballard. Ballard’s research leads him to Cartegena, Columbia, where he meets up with a former cartel accountant by the name of Vampiro (Bill Camp), who now works to free children from sex trafficking. An interesting backstory leads to Vampiro’s convictions and his passion to fulfill this task. Ballard and Vampiro’s collaboration leads to an ultimate plan to free as many children as possible, but it will require extreme patience, some heavy shrewdness, acting, deception, and strategy to accomplish this. Vampiro assembles a Columbian police officer and a wealthy guy named Paul to convince the traffickers that they want to build a paradise hotel on a beautiful island to conduct trafficking business for clients interested in children. This is a huge feat for Ballard and Vampiro, as they have to coolly and calmly assemble the heaviest hitters (the “heads” if you will) of the child trafficking ring (whom they are personally repulsed by), to convince them to put their guard down, earn their trust, and “open up” to act in order to make this hotel idea happen.
This carefully coordinated sting strategy ends up bringing 52 children to the island, of which Rocio is not a part of. When things get real serious, Ballard is informed that continued funding for his mission is not approved by the DHS, so he is told to pack up and go home. Ballard resigns his position, going rogue, with the moral support of his wife (Mira Sorvino), and things take a more dangerous turn, as Ballard finds out that Rocio was sold to the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia, deep into a dangerous, unmapped jungle that is also a no-fly zone. Ballard and Vampiro try to pursue her, but the only chance they have to make it in and out alive, is to pose as doctors delivering vaccines in the region. The suspense, drama, and action builds up as the danger gets heavier and the probability of rescuing Rocio gets likelier.
My Take:
This is a very well-made movie with a strong moral purpose behind it. In the movie, Ballard makes the comment, “Ordinary people don’t want to hear about [sex trafficking]. It’s too ugly for polite conversation.” Unfortunately, that is very true, so it slips within the confines of obscurity. What this movie does, in its own unique way, is that it takes Tim Ballard’s impressive personal experience in this field as a whole, as well as tells the captivating story of his mission provoked by moral conviction, which in turn generates intrigue, drama, action, and suspense that makes the art of raising awareness towards this subject, fruitful, meaningful, and purposeful without getting too ugly and depressing, and I think that’s worthy of commending.
Politics & Obstacles at Every Turn:
One would think that something as hideous as child sex trafficking would be openly condemned and abhorred by most people with influence. But unfortunately, it isn’t. As the movie states in its facts at the end, child sex trafficking is a $150 billion industry with the United States as its biggest consumer. That said, people in influential positions, like in politics, the media, Hollywood, etc. have either tried to thwart the distribution of this film, try to discredit it, try to marginalize, and/or criticize it in such a way to try and discourage you from seeing it. It is a disturbing thing to see when this is based on a true story. On top of that, it took this film 5 years before it was distributed commercially. In other words, this film was shot in 2018, but distributed in 2023. Angel Studios, the independent inspirational studio that produces the smash hit series The Chosen, took the helm and the risk at distributing this film, and at the time of this writing, it has amassed over $96 million in the first couple weeks that it’s been out.
The film’s tagline: God’s children are not for sale.
Out of 4 stars, I give Sound of Freedom 4 stars.
The film is rated PG-13 and runs 2 hours and 11 minutes.
To view a trailer for the movie, please click on the “play” button below.
Trailer 1:
Trailer 2:
Trailer 3:
Sound of Freedom is currently in theaters everywhere. For more information, visit www.angel.com/tickets/sound-of-freedom to see where a theater near you is playing it.