It is not its cinematographic qualities that Sound of Freedom by Alejandro Monteverde owes its success at the American box office last summer. It’s just a featureless thriller with a very conventional plot. The director confided to Los Angeles Times having “wanted to address a brutal subject on which everyone agrees: the exploitation of children is a horrible crime that must be put an end to. » How can you not agree?
A success through scandal
It is rather to its scent of scandal that the film owes its reputation. The supposedly “true” story tells how a certain Tim Ballard gave up his career as a police officer to clandestinely fight against child sex slavery. The magazine Vice lifted the veil on the life of a vigilante apparently far from blameless, since this Mormon, father of nine children, is said to have attacked women and lied to the media about the effectiveness of his actions. It would also seem that the facts described in the film and the figures given at the end are disputed as being in no way supported.
Another source of tension, the actor chosen to play this police officer in the film is not just anyone. Jim Caviezel, who stood out in the title role of The passion of Christ by Mel Gibson, is a fundamentalist Catholic, fervent follower of the conspiracy organization QAnon. The actor also publicly defended a vague theory according to which an “elite” would kidnap, torture and kill children to drink their blood and extractadrenochromea derivative of adrenaline.
Not conspiratorial but not famous either
If the plot of Sound Of Freedom does not promote any thesis of this kind, the support he has received also makes him lean towards the American hard right, from Mel Gibson, executive producer of the film, to Elon Musk who defended on Twitter then on. Donald Trump himself organized a private film preview for his golf club.
This unexpected support changed the destiny of this thriller filmed in 2018 and passed into oblivion before being released by the very conservative Angel Studios then, for France, by Saje, distributor of Win or die produced by Puy du Fou and‘Unplanned with the anti-abortion message.
And soon the rest
Arriving today on French screens is a work without genius that clumsily attempts to raise awareness about a terrible subject. Its American success portends a sequel in the same vein. And it’s not the only one: according to Jim Caviezel, the filming of The Passion of Christ: Resurrection, sequel of The passion of Christ (yes, you read correctly!), still led by Mel Gibson, should begin next January.