Nothing speaks to the vicious polarisation of contemporary US politics quite like the distempered dialogue around this small, serviceable Christian-themed thriller. In one corner, suspicious-minded conservatives have noted that Disney shelved the film for years before the God-fearing distribution imprint Angel Studios acquired the project and, using an innovative pay-it-forward model, turned Sound of Freedom into a box-office sensation. Fringe elements, much to the director’s dismay, have trumpeted the film’s intersection with unhinged conspiracy theories. Detractors, meanwhile, have dismissed the project as “QAnon adjacent” and employed other slurs and slippery semantics.
This is, unabashedly, a scripture-quoting faith film. It is co-written and directed by the Mexican film-maker Alejandro Monteverde and stars Mira Sorvino and Jim Caviezel – three devout Catholics. There’s no doubting the religiosity or sincerity of the project. And there’s no doubting the urgency around the central theme of child trafficking.
Inspired by the work of Tim Ballard, a Mormon who was a special agent for the United States’ department of homeland security, Sound of Freedom begins with a properly heart-stopping sequence during which two Honduran children are duped and snatched by a fake talent scout. For Ballard (Caviezel), who specialises in arresting child predators, it rankles that his operations track down the consumers of child pornography yet fail to liberate the children involved. It’s a notion that takes him to Colombia for a daring undercover operation, a plan that ultimately causes ructions with his employers.
Handsomely staged on a modest budget, Monteverde’s picture lacks the high-octane family-themed frenzy of say, Liam Neeson’s Taken sequence. But working with his editor Brian Scofield, the film-maker displays commendable sensitivity and tact with material that could easily have felt exploitative. Appalling actions are suggested by drawn curtains and pained silences. Affecting performances from child actors are evidently staged in safe spaces.
Caviezel puts in his fiercest turn since The Passion of the Christ and is well met by the earnestness of the material.
It’s refreshingly unaffected. The storytelling is routine. It warrants neither its hard-core disciples nor its worst enemies. Ignore the dishonest huffing and puffing.
Sound of Freedom opens in cinemas on Friday, September 1st, with previews from Thursday, August 31st
