Depending on whom you ask, the surprise hit US film Sound of Freedom is a “provocative and gripping” film offering “moral clarity” on a harrowing, child-threatening issue – or else it is a “QAnon-tinged thriller… designed to appeal to the conscience of a conspiracy-addled boomer.” Either way, it’s clear this movie is not just a movie. It has become something else, something more.
Inspired by the experiences of Tim Ballard, a former Homeland Security Agent who has latterly spent his career rescuing victims of human trafficking, Sound of Freedom tells the fictionalised story of Ballard’s (Jim Caviezel) journey to Colombia to save a kidnapped brother and sister who have been seized by a woman posing as a model scout. The film progresses as you’d expect: Ballard saves the children and reunites them with their father. There are a few tame action sequences. The good guys are heroic. There aren’t many twists and turns.
A critic at RogerEbert.com called it “a solemn, drawn-out bore with a not particularly bold narrative stance”. However Variety disagreed – describing it as a “compelling movie that shines an authentic light on one of the crucial criminal horrors of our time” – as have plenty of cinemagoers. The film has racked up a strong box office showing, earning more than $45 million in ticket sales in the US since its release on 4th July. A lot of tickets – more than four million according to the website of its makers Angel Studios – have been sold via a unique Pay It Forward scheme whereby ticket buyers can buy multiple tickets for others to claim for free.
Read more at BBC.com
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