The film “Sound of Freedom,” which (fittingly enough) opened on the Fourth of July, has, unlike “Insidious” or the latest “Indiana Jones” film, continued to grow in popularity and as of this writing has earned some $85 million at the box office against its $14.6 million budget. In fact, despite scattered reports of certain theaters passive-aggressively bothering filmgoers, more and more theaters have picked up the film and added additional screenings.
Despite the tenuous claims (based on the film’s distributor) that “Sound of Freedom” is a faith-based film, it is a tense thriller based on the exploits of the real Tim Ballard, whom he has been involved with as a federal agent and as part of the group he founded, Operation Underground Railroad. It is well worth seeing for its entertainment value, but also because it sheds much-needed light on the worldwide problem of child sex trafficking, how widespread it is, and how the United States is the No. 1 culprit for consumers of these crimes. In fact, it was the hope of Ballard and the film’s producer Eduardo Verástegui to make a film that would be the modern equivalent of and have the same effect on child sex trafficking as Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin had in jumpstarting the drive to end slavery in the United States.
Based on that intention alone, one would think “Sound of Freedom” is a must-see for everyone, regardless of where one is on the political spectrum. Unfortunately, in our polarized zeitgeist, this
