Sound of Freedom - Conspiracy or just Politics
Based on a true events --> spoilers ahead (REVIEW!)
Surprisingly, I am probably of a few thousand who have known about the Sound of Freedom for eight years. Yes, you read correctly - EIGHT YEARS! It had taken three years to produce and film. Then five years later, it would finally reach the big screen.
How did this blogger know this long about this word-to-mouth film?
Simple. A family member is a strong follower of one of the film’s actors and producer - Eduardo Verastegui).
E. Verastegui is a well-known Mexican actor. My first introduction to his works was when he did a small but important part in a movie called Chasing Papi. A comedy of three women (Roselyn Sanchez - Rush Hour 2 & Game Plan, Sofia Vergara - Modern Family, and Jaci Velasquez - Latin pop singer) who are dating the same man. One of the women decides to help a friend, which ends with her pulling the other women being chased by two members of a counterfeiting ring.
Verastegui can be seen daily online on his Facebook page. He usually leads those that follow his page into prayer. He does these prayers almost daily, but if not possible, it usually means he is working. It is at these instants he will give behind-the-scenes viewing of what he is working on and who he is working with. This means there are occasions when you see Mel Gibson himself appear with Verastegui. At that time, I didn’t know the film he worked on would be called and known as Sound of Freedom.
I watched Sound of Freedom with little expectations and hoped to all that the studio wouldn’t pull a Cuties (Netflix) to try and prove a point. They didn’t. The movie was well written, a bit slow-paced, detective-ish like Law and Order: SVU, and didn’t push a view onto others that isn’t a secret about child trafficking.
Before some of you enter denial, child trafficking is not news or NEW. It is a well-known fact we all grew up knowing that it still existed. How we found out, it varied. WHEN we found out, most of us probably don’t remember. Fer cryin’ out loud, I probably knew before I could remember. My abuelita used to have me watch a Spanish show called Ojo, Mucho Ojo, which was basically a majority-time stranger-danger series for children and parents not to trust people (which even included family members, sadly). The show gave scenarios of things that could go wrong with mostly children. I watched this when I was four (and probably waaaayyyy younger).
WARNING: SPOILERS!
I recommend you watch the film if you haven’t, but if you don’t care to get your bubble popped…
→ spoilers ahead.
Still haven’t left ….?
Sound of Freedom follows an agent who works in a department that deals with pedophiles. The agent, played by Jim Caviezel, rescues a young boy who shows signs of physical abuse and finds out this boy had been abducted with his older sister by a fake modeling agency. The child asks the agent if he can bring his sister home. The agent then sacrifices his career and his own life to bring a family back together. To show the severity of the story, real footage is given about the raid in which the film had portrayed.
SPOILERS ENDED.
See … didn’t give much because I want you to watch this film. It is that good! It is that educational. If you come out entertained, I would advise you to speak with someone because it SHOULD NOT ENTERTAIN YOU. YOU SHOULD BE EDUCATED!
Intriguingly, when this film was FIRST released, it was placed under the action genre. I am happy to inform it has been changed to drama/thriller. Yet, I am still disappointed with how the media tried to portray the film because it mentions religion and on the issues/beliefs/mentality of some of the cast members.
I get it. People are a bit more skeptical about religion. I myself am a catholic AND a scientist. A rare combination that does require balancing, but due to my avid reading as a child (which was so horrible that even an English teacher had once confiscated a book from me), there are some things science can’t explain. Without faith, without belief, there wouldn’t even be philosophy or science. So, if you are not religious, that is your thing but don’t downplay or mistreat others based on their belief.
Now, to the actors or mainly ACTOR.
Jim Caviezel has always … ALWAYS been religious. Even when he was in Person of Interest as a badass ex-military spy saving people on television, he was religious. HIS VIEWS DID NOT CHANGE.
The world changed.
People are either for this or that.
Or for this person or that.
Or you are on this side or that.
Hate to break it to you, life isn’t that simple to be broken into sections. Again, that is your thing, and it is a fact I hope that is learned.
BUT…
JUST IN CASE, TO COVER ALL THE BASES …
Even if Caviezel has become radical, he isn’t the only celebrity to say the craziest stuff ever. Fer cryin’ out loud, celebrities threatened to bomb and decapitate the previous president (who shall not be named because I don’t want y’all to be “triggered”).
Even if you think it was well deserved or not (it shouldn’t be you crazy, you), we are talking about people. A human life. If you think this current admin or the previous admin should have justice thrust against them of violent nature due to not agreeing, the problem isn’t them -
If you are about to angrily close this blog and demand the pox on my family (which would be hilarious if you do), DO NOT YET!
I can easily prove it-
RIGHT NOW!
Half of you looked at an actor, heard religion mentioned, read mainstream media that said Qanon, and immediately determined the film was all nonsense.
It isn’t.
Child trafficking happens.
It is very common.
And because you haven’t seen it, remember, you didn’t see a tree fall thousands of miles away, but you know it made a sound when it impacted the ground. Hell, I know individuals who have been almost kidnapped as children. Not even that long ago, just a few weeks, from a trusted source, they witnessed an old woman outside of Costco try to trick teenagers into her car about a fake modeling agency that this source stopped.
This film had nothing to do with which side of politics you are on. Nothing with conspiracy. It just pointed out a fact of life that many of us knew about that ended with most of us putting our heads in the sand because we didn’t like what we were hearing and thought selfishly our problems were bigger.
I give the film a big 8.5-9/10. I don’t do 10/10 because, as a supervisor once told me, only God is perfect - we are not. We are to strive to be perfect even with knowing we might not get there. Sound of Freedom gave insight into a travesty that is occurring now without being inappropriate. It kept you looking even when you wanted to look away. It mentioned facts and showed that it is a world problem.
Watch it!