In an especially strong summer at the multiplex, it’s a genuine surprise to have an adult, biographical drama with minimal marketing and a prominent social justice mission to be making the (mostly welcome) headlines it has.
That’s the surprise in Angel Studios’ Sound of Freedom: somehow, one of Hollywood’s smallest movie studios has produced the first true sleeper hit film of the year, and its worthy of its quickly growing praise among audiences.
The film’s real-life subject matter is harrowing to say the least - the film is a biography of real-life former U.S. Homeland Security agent Tim Ballard (Jim Caviezel) who leaves his agency job to begin special operations to free children who have been kidnapped, enslaved, and forced to work in the sex industry.
Sound of Freedom primarily succeeds because the lead creative team are handling the uncomfortable subject of modern child abduction and sex slavery with the sensitivity and urgency it requires.
It’s a deeply uncomfortable plot that’s handled with great care and an appropriate respect for the discomfort audiences will feel. This is the most effective Hollywood films to address the subject, with director Alejandro Monteverde effectively galvanizing action from the audience to address the real-world conflict still in progress.
Angel Studios is known for making faith-based movies, but there’s balance in showing the drama and maintaining plot suspense with Tim’s faith-based character motivations to rescue the children he does. That’s also an accurate reflection of the real man the character is based on.
Lead actor Caviezel is best known for starring in another faith-based film: he played Jesus in The Passion of the Christ. Caviezel has also garnered a lot of (justified) negative press in recent years in his political life, though that’s less relevant when assessing his grounded, controlled acting talents here in Sound of Freedom.
It’s also true the a large amount of the film’s box office success over the last few days is attributed to heavily skewed right-wing audiences who were advertised to on extremist American news outlets in the marketing campaign. Don’t mistake the film, however, as propaganda: it’s a balanced story with a deeply moving and necessary message.
Caviezel gives an overly preachy pitch during the end credits that's less effective than the film itself - so long as you see the dramatic merit on its own this is easy to forgive.
Audiences going into the film should be aware that, while there are some brief moments of on screen distress, the topic is what makes the tone potentially difficult to watch.
If you’ve seen other adult faith-based films like 2016’s Hacksaw Ridge, for example, you should be stalwart enough to sit through and appreciate Sound of Freedom and walk out with an understanding and feeling reflective about the depicted pain without physically feeling it yourself.
Some of the statistics shared about child sex trafficking at the end of the film are stirring and hard to watch, but it’s never so heavy-handed you’re forced to look away.
Other than the slightly too-long run time and pacing, Sound of Freedom is a well-crafted drama that deserves to be seen in theatres. This is one of the year’s biggest surprises, worthwhile for not just faith-based viewers but all adult audiences.
Sound of Freedom
9 out of 10
14A, 2hrs 11mins. Drama Thriller Biopic.
Directed and co-written by Alejandro Monteverde.
Starring Jim Caviezel, Bill Camp, José Zúñiga, Alanna de la Rossa, Kurt Fuller and Mira Sorvino.
Now Playing a limited theatrical run at Film.Ca Cinemas and Cineplex Winston Churchill & VIP.
