In our world, there’s been a lot of hype recently about a movie that was released on Independence Day this week. Because of our religious and political views, we were bombarded on the internet by the pre-release hype for this movie.
We were offered free tickets by a Pay-It-Forward plan dreamed up by the studio to promote the film but opted, because we are able, to pay for the movie ourselves.
This film, Sound of Freedom, based on a true story, was actually filmed in 2018 and was to be distributed by 20th Century Fox. However, 20th Century Fox was sold to Disney Studios who then shelved this film about child sex trafficking. (Hmmmm….Disney shelving a film about child sex trafficking. Imagine that.) The filmmakers spent 5 years trying to get the film back from Disney to release to the public. I have my own (conspiracy theory) thoughts about the timing of the film’s release. Ask me if you want to know. I won’t discuss it publicly here.
The film itself is….stunning. Stunning in content. Stunning in quality. Stunning in impact. It’s a difficult film to watch. It’s an important film to watch. It it worthy of the Oscar for best picture of 2023. The lead actor, Jim Caviezel, was superb in his portrayal of a real man who made the monumental decision to devote his life to not just arrest pedophiles, but to actually rescue the child victims. His portrayal is worthy of Best Actor. But The Academy of Motion Pictures will never even recognize this film. Never.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the movie and its story last night. I only slept about 2 hours. In a special message after the credits rolled, Caviezel came back to the audience and described the power of story telling. If we have any hope of ending human trafficking, good people must be aware that it’s happening and do everything in their power to help make it stop. The first step in the long, difficult journey to eradicate human trafficking is to acknowledge its existence.
Go see the Sound of Freedom, now at a theater near you. And if you can, pay it forward.
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