Sound of Freedom

“You can sell a bag of cocaine once. A 5-year-old child, you can sell them 5-10 times a day.” An emotional wringer that will unsettle stronger viewers and destroy weaker ones. This film can be judged on two levels - the factual and the cinematic. In terms of filmmaking, it's a solid piece of work combining fierce toughness and authenticity along with a skillful story and character building (the lead character is a likable guy and a great actor!) and visually, it offers many nice locations, assured cinematography and a good musical score. Factually, then, it's absolute madness that happens on a much larger scale than any of us can imagine, and the film conveys this quite clearly. A story based on real events, with real characters and a real message, which when combined with the sumptuous filmmaking, comes out on an absolute chart-topper that chills, moves and shocks all at once. A very powerful experience that will resonate with the viewer for a long time to come. The biggest atrocity, however, is not only the whole child trafficking, but mainly the fact that in many countries it wasn’t released in cinemas, as this should simply be seen by as many people as possible, so that even the liberals would see through a bit. More things like this. PS: I'm glad that the reviews of this movie can help me find people with very below average IQ (read moron), I hereby greet greet all those who have beautifully shown us with their reviews that even people without primary school can put together a few meaningful words, congratulations! (28/08/2023)

A crime drama-thriller based on true events about the kidnapping of children and their subsequent sexual enslavement. Alejandro Monteverde made a film that created a big buzz and became an unexpected financial hit overseas. It has a strong message on a sensitive subject and parents may not be comfortable watching it, although there are no explicit scenes. For me it was a sort of light version of Vega's Small World which took paedophiles in its stride without any pretensions and served a very strong stew that was not nice to watch (I recommend it if you haven’t seen it), so unfortunately I can't avoid the comparison. The story focuses on a federal agent (James Caviezel) who decides on his own to rescue two siblings who have recently been kidnapped. Directionally, the film is on a decent level, likewise with the acting, the capture of the paedophiles in the opening was fine, it had a bit of a darker atmosphere at times, but most of the time the film flows slowly and nothing much interesting happens. At least the Colombian jungle finale was interesting, it gave it a bit of exoticism, and the realistic shots at the end were also nice. All in all, a decent film that highlights child abductions, which are on the rise these days, which is really crazy and scary. 6/10. (22/10/2023)

It’s reassuring to know that James Caviezel hasn’t hung up his acting boots, as his immense talent could be envied by many in the industry. Sound of Freedom tackles a difficult topic that’s not often discussed in society: child abductions and trafficking. Watching it can be quite unsettling, with some moments sending chills down your spine. But what about the film’s quality itself? It’s immediately clear that this isn’t a low-budget production. The money is visible in the final result, without a doubt. The acting is also top-notch; besides Caviezel, who gives a performance of a lifetime, I must commend the performances of the two main kidnapped children. They had a challenging role, but they pulled it off with flying colors. I was holding my breath during the final escape from the Colombian jungle. Yes, real-life agent Ballard is a hero. There's no other way to put it. I recommend everyone see this. It’s definitely a topic that should be discussed openly in societal circles. I give it 7.5/10. (16/12/2023)

I was prepared to be insulted by this film as aggressively stupid QAnon propaganda, I was prepared to take it graciously as a solidly paced thriller, but I wasn't prepared for it to be such a cruel bore. Absolutely unexciting in every way, a "retiree thriller". The events around it were orders of magnitude more interesting. (23/10/2023)