There aren’t many films that address child sex trafficking, and few manage to capture our attention. “Sound of Freedom” is a biographical crime thriller film directed by Alejandro Monteverde. Inspired by the story of Tim Ballard, who initiated Operation Underground Railroad, an anti-profit human trafficking organization, the film stars several actors, including Jim Caviezel, Mira Sorvino, and Bill Camp. What is also unique is that this film was produced by Eduardo Verástegui, a Mexican celebrity and activist who cares about humanitarian issues. Who would have thought this independent film, with a budget of only USD 14.5 million, could achieve phenomenal success in its global release by earning more than USD 235 million? So, what’s special about this film?
The film’s story opens with the figure of a little girl, Rocio, and her younger brother, Miguel, being kidnapped using a child model motif in a region in Honduras. The kidnappers were involved in child sex trafficking in Cartagena, Colombia. The father and local authorities were unable to do much. In the US, Tim Ballard (Caviezel) is a Homeland Security Investigation special agent whose job is to catch pedophiles distributing child pornography photos and videos. Through a pedophile who was his target, he managed to save a boy who turned out to be Miguel. Intrigued by Miguel’s story, he intends to save his older sister, Rocio, which means this goes beyond his jurisdiction.
This simple but solid story runs at a moderate pace and focuses on Ballard. Even though the story is not difficult to anticipate, the humanist touch is difficult to avoid. Our human side is guaranteed to be touched by the fate of the poor children who are victims. Through the plot, we are brought into an intense search process for Rocio in the “Mission Impossible” style through Ballard’s collaboration with local parties. One figure who stole the attention was Vampiro (Camp), who played charismatically as a former gangster who repented and now actually helps children trapped in the sex trade. The tense climax closes with a touching scene that is guaranteed to bring tears to the eyes of anyone who watches it.
Through strong humanist issues and themes, “Sound of Freedom” works optimally despite little exploration of the genre. As the main protagonist, Caviezel doesn’t play badly, even though his figure looks “fragile” for almost the entire film. Another cast member who stole the attention was the emotional performance of the child actress Cristal Aparicio, who played Rocio. One small point that hinders the plot is the figure of the former beauty queen, Giselle, who becomes the mastermind of the main perpetrator through the pretext of recruiting child models. With her fame, shouldn’t it have been easy to investigate the culprit from the start (Rocio and Miguel’s kidnapping)?
Even though this is not a big problem, “Sound of Freedom” can illustrate how widespread and powerful child sex trafficking networks are, especially in Latin America. If all the facts presented in the epilogue are true, this is very worrying, apart from the world problems already stifled by environmental issues and other humanitarian problems. The dream of humanity being able to live in a world full of peace in the future feels like just a fantasy. At least this film can tease us effectively and touchingly.
