Sound of Freedom (2023)

	Directed by: Alejandro Monteverde	COUNTRY USA GENRE Drama/Crime/Thriller NORWEGIAN TITLE Sound of Freedom RUNNING TIME 131 minutes
	Produced by: Eduardo Verástegui
	Written by: Rod Barr Alejandro Monteverde

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Tim Ballard	Jim Caviezel
Katherine Ballard	Mira Sorvino	-
Vampiro	Bill Camp
Paulo Delgado	Eduardo Verástegui	-
Jorge	Javier Godino	½
Roberto Aguilar	José Zúñiga
Frost	Kurt Fuller	-
Earl Buchanan	Gary Basaraba	-
El Alacrán	Gerardo Taracena	-
Chris	Scott Haze	-
El Calacas	Gustavo Sánchez Parra	-
Giselle	Yessica Borroto	½
Rocío Aguilar	Cristal Aparicio
Miguel Aguilar	Lucás Ávila

Review

The fact that Sound of Freedom has been wildly lauded and completely panned in equal doses arguably says more about the climate and time it was made and marketed in than about the film itself, which is a fairly comprehensive, nicely structured, and obviously quite personal movie about child sex trafficking in the Americas by Mexican filmmaker Alejandro Monteverde. The picture is loosely based on the work of real-life activist and former Homeland Security officer Tim Ballard, but you don't need too much of an imagination to figure out that this is Monteverde's creation. And he impresses with a fluent, agreeable narrative style with which he manages to tell his powerful and in many ways insistent story in a manner which feels non-intrusive. Sure, by the end, you are a little too aware of the manipulation you've been subjected to. And sure, if you're so inclined, you can allow a certain vapid aftertaste of the backlash surrounding the movie's promotion to seep into your experience, but that wouldn't really do the film itself justice. Even though Sound of Freedom is a message movie in the most fundamental sense (lead actor Jim Caviezel even appears in person with a plea during the end credits), it's hard to fault it for the message it conveys. There are solid performances by a dedicated Caviezel in the lead, Cristal Aparicio and Lucás Ávila as the two Aguilar siblings, and Bill Camp as a former cartel henchman, incidentally the most layered role in the film.