Sound of Freedom Film Review 

A little girl is sitting in her bedroom drumming and singing a tune. She’s eleven years old with the voice of an angel and the dangerous gift of beauty. Her name is Rocio. A beautiful woman knocks on the door of her house and tells her how impressed she is with her singing. The woman, with a voice like honey and a portfolio of promises, convinces Rocio’s father about entering Rocio in a talent quest. Rocio’s seven-year-old brother walks into the room, attracting the attention of the woman who suggests he join his sister in the talent quest. Rocio’s father takes the bait, believing it’s a once in a lifetime golden opportunity for his children. Except it isn’t. Both children are taken and sold into sex slavery.

Child trafficking is the fastest-growing international crime network, surpassing the illegal arms trade. Soon, it will surpass the drug trade because while you can sell one bag of drugs once, a child can be sold up to ten times a day for ten years or more and discarded when they get too old. It has been reported that over 2 million children a year are being trafficked and that there are more slaves today, including human trafficked slaves for labour, than ever reported in the world’s history.

Sound of Freedom is based on the true story of Tim Ballard’s life and his mission to rescue children sold as sex slaves. It is well written and directed by Alejandro Monteverde, taking you on an emotional journey of suspense, sorrow and triumph. Sound of Freedom is a very powerful story that is masterfully filmed, capturing the contrast between the poor and the rich with spectacular visuals of luxurious mansions and island settings that are prison hellholes for their victims. Yet the irony is that we see the filth that resides in the ruthless, lustful hearts of the rich.

It’s difficult to understand the evil inside someone who allows their lust to override their conscience as they rape children over and over again without a thought to the torment they are inflicting on these innocent souls.

Jim Caviezel plays Tim Ballard, who worked as an undercover special agent for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, targeting child predators and traffickers. When Tim was asked by his colleague, who could no longer stand the stress of the job, how many paedophiles he had arrested compared to how many children he had rescued, he decided to quit his job and start rescuing children, starting with Rocio, who was taken into the depth of the Colombian jungle. Tim pleads with his boss to let him go to Colombia to rescue Rocio, saying:

‘This job tears you to pieces, and this is my one chance to put those pieces back together.’

God’s Children Are Not For Sale

Jim Caviezel is known for his captivating, emotive performances, and he does not disappoint in Sound of Freedom. One of his powerful lines is: ‘God’s children are not for sale.’ Other cast include Mira Sorvino, as Tim’s wife; Bill Camp, as Vampiro, who teams up with Tim to rescue the children, saying,

‘When God tells you what to do, you cannot hesitate.’

Young Cristal Aparicio, who plays Rocio and has the face of an angel, will capture your heart, as does Lucas Avila, who plays her baby brother, Miguel.

Each of the actors gave a brilliant performance. This film has had huge success at the box office for good reason. It is fast-paced and chilling as it shines a light on the horrors of sex slavery and the lives it destroys for the sake of profit.

Sound of Freedom will touch your heart and stay in your mind forever. Let’s pray that all those involved in causing such misery to children are brought to justice and repent of this evil. Without clients, this despicable business would stop.

Jim Caviezel’s message at the end of the credits is worth waiting for as it’s a call to action to spread awareness and hopefully spring people into action in whatever way they can to stop this horrendous act against humanity.

Related articles:

The Whistleblower

Fifty Years of Silence

Machine Gun Preacher

Jacqx supports the She Rescue Home, a project of the It’s Not OK organisation against child trafficking. Please click here to find out more.