‘Sound of Freedom’: The Wild True Story Behind 2023’s Most Controversial Film (2024)

What is the Jim Caviezel–led action drama Sound of Freedom, exactly? A solid independent action film, which has made a surprising amount of money since its release on July 4? A moving true story about a real American hero? A dangerous gateway into misinformation and conspiracy? A gamble that’s paid off beyond anyone’s wildest expectations?

For director Alejandro Monteverde, the answer is simple: Sound of Freedom was a calling. He says he sat down to write the movie in 2017, after seeing a segment on an evening news show—”60 Minutes, 20/20, Dateline, I used to record them all”—about child trafficking. “I watched it and I couldn’t sleep,” he tells me in an interview. “I knew about human trafficking. I just didn’t know about child trafficking for sexual exploitation.”

The next day, he felt he needed to write a film about the issue. With cowriter Rod Barr, he spun a fully fictional screenplay called The Model, about a monied, free-wheeling guy who discovers an underground trade in sexually exploited children, then starts buying the kids back into safety. “If I’d kept making a complete fiction, I wouldn’t have any of these attacks,” the Mexico native says somewhat ruefully.

But that’s not what happened. Instead, a producer on the still-nascent movie asked Monteverde if he’d heard of Tim Ballard, a former homeland security special agent who had started to make waves for a nonprofit he founded, Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), which reportedly had a hand in rescuing trafficked children. “So I Googled him,” Monteverde says.

The online results were plentiful and included a glowing CBS News feature from 2014 on Operation Triple Take, a joint action between OUR and the Colombian government that reportedly rescued 123 trafficked people—55 of whom were children. “And I was like, Wow, I would love to meet this guy,” Monteverde said. “So I met him and I saw that his story surpassed my fiction.”

With Barr, he rewrote the script. Now the film would depict a heavily fictionalized take on the Colombian rescue from a few years before.

According to investigative journalist Lynn Packer, Ballard had long been seeking a wider platform for his and OUR’s activities. In 2013, he and a group of filmmakers sought funding from conservative political commentator Glenn Beck for a reality series that would depict the rescue of trafficked children. Though the series never came to fruition, some members of the production team made a documentary about Ballard, released in 2016 and called The Abolitionists, that gave Ballard even more mainstream legitimacy. Soon, he was speaking at organizations like Google.

But according to Erin Albright, an attorney and longtime adviser to anti-trafficking task forces, Ballard and OUR aren’t actually central to the international fight against human trafficking. “The majority of the [anti-trafficking] field views them as fringe,” she tells me. “They peddle sensationalism…and they fundraise off it.”

In 2018, when Monteverde was making his movie, these critiques weren’t part of the conversation. “I never in a million years imagined that this would be political,” he said of the film, which would become a Ballard biopic—albeit one that takes great liberties with the facts. After all, he says, “I saw the piece [on child trafficking] on the mainstream media … I always thought that this was going to be a film that we would all come together over.”

If this movie had been released shortly after it was made, that might have happened. Sound of Freedom was independently produced for a reported $14.5 million and financed mainly by a group of Mexican backers, according to the filmmakers. But like many other projects, the film lost its distributor when Disney acquired 21st Century Fox in 2019. Sound of Freedom remained on the shelf until it was picked up by Provo, Utah–based Angel Studios in 2023, with a plan to release the film in theaters around the country.

Several critical things happened in the years between the film’s wrap and its arrival in theaters. In a series that kicked off in 2020, Vice journalists Anna Merlan and Tim Marchman began a probe of Ballard and OUR, discovering “a pattern of image-burnishing and mythology-building, a series of exaggerations that are, in the aggregate, quite misleading.” In a subsequent report, they alleged Ballard and his organization had engaged in “blundering missions—carried out in part by real estate agents and high-level donors—that seemed aimed mainly at generating exciting video footage.” (Ballard has not yet responded to Vanity Fair’s requests for comment. Though a representative from Angel Studios initially proposed an interview with Ballard, they later said they were unable to reach him to arrange a meeting.)

These reports were widely read and shared but were reviled as often as they were praised. That’s because of a second development: the QAnon set of conspiracy theories, which originated in 2017 and gradually gained notice by the mainstream in the ensuing years. The movement’s “core falsehood,” as The New York Times put it, asserts that “a group of Satan-worshiping elites who run a child sex ring are trying to control our politics and media.”

Around late 2020, QAnon started to use claims about child trafficking as an outreach strategy. As The New York Times reported at the time, adherents began “flooding social media with posts about human trafficking, joining parenting Facebook groups and glomming on to hashtag campaigns like #SaveTheChildren,” then moving “the conversation to baseless theories about who they believe is doing the trafficking: a cabal of nefarious elites that includes Tom Hanks, Oprah Winfrey and Pope Francis.

‘Sound of Freedom’: The Wild True Story Behind 2023’s Most Controversial Film (2024)

FAQs

What is the controversy with the movie Sound of Freedom? ›

One of the primary points of contention revolves around the film's portrayal of child trafficking. Experts, including Erin Albright, a former fellow for the Department of Justice's anti-trafficking task force, argue that the depiction is inaccurate and sensationalized.

What is the true story behind the Sound of Freedom movie? ›

Billed as a story about the real-life Tim Ballard, a former special agent for the Department of Homeland Security and founder of the anti-trafficking group Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.), Sound of Freedom has become mired in controversy over criticisms that it features misleading depictions of child ...

Why did Disney block Sound of Freedom? ›

Putting to bed any ideas some may have that the studio buried Sound of Freedom intentionally, Monteverde explains that it was merely a victim of circ*mstance following the major deal between Fox and the Walt Disney Company.

What was the special message at the end of Sound of Freedom? ›

As the credits roll at the end of the film, U.S. audiences saw a timer on the screen counting down to a "special message" which was actor Jim Caviezel, who plays Ballard, urging the audience to tell people about the film but also to "pay it forward" and buy tickets for others who might not be able to afford their own ...

Why did Christopher Plummer dislike his role in Sound of Music? ›

Plummer recalled how he wasn't happy with the 1965 film, other than working with Andrews. "I was a bit bored with the character," he said. Plummer also compared the studio's attempt to make the von Trapp patriarch interesting to "flogging a dead horse," stating that the subject matter just wasn't his "cup of tea."

How many children did Tim Ballard save? ›

Tim Ballard is one of the most inspiring people I know. Remember how I said his organization has rescued 3,800 victims? Of those 3,800, Tim and his wife, Katherine, have personally adopted two. He has a passion for rescuing exploited children around the world, and he's leading the charge against sex trafficking.

What parts of the Sound of Freedom are not true? ›

“Sound of Freedom” was based on a true story but contains dramatized elements. Filmmakers took creative license in portraying the different ways that children can be trafficked, including in shipping containers.

Did Christopher Plummer actually sing? ›

While the veteran actor sang the songs on camera, his vocals were later dubbed over by well-known playback singer Bill Lee for the 1965 film and corresponding soundtrack.

How many children are trafficked each year? ›

Trafficking of children has been documented in every region of the world. A widely used figure regarding the prevalence of this practice is provided by the ILO, which estimates that 1.2 million children are trafficked each year; this estimate includes cross-border and internal trafficking.

Why didn't people like the Sound of Freedom? ›

The film's critics argue that the movie exaggerates the prevalence of child exploitation in a way that helps advance QAnon conspiracy theories about a satanic ruling elite that molests children and feasts on their blood.

What is the Disney controversy about? ›

In particular, the Walt Disney Studios has been criticized for including stereotypical portrayal of non-white characters, sexism, and alleged plagiarism.

Did Sound of Freedom beat Indiana Jones? ›

"Sound of Freedom" beat "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," which played in nearly 2,000 more theaters and had a reported budget of $295 million.

What is controversial about the Sound of Freedom? ›

According to Sean O'Connor, Assistant Professor of Broadcasting, Digital Media, and Journalism, one major controversy related to the film is the fact it portrays a real person while not completely keeping to the facts of what happened in the real story.

What is the true story behind the Sound of Freedom? ›

“Sound of Freedom” is based on the real story of Tim Ballard, a former U.S. Department for Homeland Security agent who conducts sting operations to rescue a young brother and sister from human trafficking in Colombia.

What happened at the end of Sound of Freedom? ›

Ballard is forced to kill El Alacrán while freeing Rocío, and despite the rebels pursuing and firing on them, gets her to safety. Before they part, he gives her back the necklace Miguel gave him earlier. Rocío is finally returned to her father and brother, and the family goes home to Honduras.

Were the brother and sister in Sound of Freedom real? ›

The Sound of Freedom is based on a true story, the hero's being two trafficked siblings and the team behind finding their captors- it sounds harrowing and I was even sick at the thought of seeing it… but I couldn't keep my head in the sand on this.

Is Tim Ballard LDS? ›

Early life and education. Ballard grew up in California and graduated from La Cañada High School in 1994. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he served a two-year mission to Chile.

Is Freedom song based on a true story? ›

Based on the actual history of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), student activism, and voter registration in McComb, Mississippi, during the Civil Rights Movement.

What is the point of the movie Freedom Writers? ›

While based on a true story in which "at-risk" students of color learn to value their self worth and their futures with the help of an idealistic young white teacher, the movie also clearly falls into the "white savior narrative." That said, students find ways to discover their inner strength and a way to express ...

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