'Sound of Freedom' Shines a Spotlight on Sex Trafficking
One giant leap for a man, one small step for faith-based filmmaking
Sound of Freedom is described as “The incredible true story of a former government agent turned vigilante who embarks on a dangerous mission to rescue hundreds of children from sex traffickers.” It has received generally positive reviews by film critics. For example, Owen Gleiberman at Variety calls the film a compelling “genre thriller…[that is] urgent and honest.”
Director Alejandro Monteverde has taken a giant leap forward in his proficiency as a filmmaker. His debut feature-length project, the indie film Bella, left a lot to be desired. In contrast, Sound of Freedom does admirably moves faith-based filmmaking in the right direction. Even Jezebel writer Rich Juzwiak, who labels the movie with words like “shameless” and “propaganda,” nevertheless confesses, “The movie itself is well-acted, it looks expensive, and it moves at a rapid clip.”
The stellar cinematography and evocative musical score (two components that rank high in my estimation) further elevate the efficacy of the narrative. And the acting is, for the most part, superb.
I was privileged to write a review of the film for the pop culture site The Collision. Here’s a short excerpt:
At one point in the film, Ballard [the film’s protagonist] lays out the facts for another person: “You can sell a five-year-old kid five to ten times a day for ten years straight, every day. Ordinary people don’t want to hear it. It’s too ugly for polite conversation. But meanwhile, over two million children a year are being sucked into the deepest recesses of hell.”
Without being crass or sensationalistic, this story translates those facts into a compelling and gut-wrenching narrative. It rightly puts “polite conversation” aside, refusing to let us skirt the issue with blithe acknowledgements that the world is an evil place for the needy, poor, and vulnerable. Sound of Freedom utilizes pathos to get under our skin and into our hearts.
You can read the entire review here.