Rent Sound of Freedom (2023)

A conventional and sentimental drama about a serious subject (surrounded by lots of external hype) - Sound of Freedom review by Piehawker

I stepped away from all the hoopla of the controversy of this film and just watched it on its own terms as a piece of drama. It's well shot and acted but is a fairly conventional drama with some thriller elements, but hardly an edge of the seat gripping drama. I was impressed with the cinematography and production design, adding a good sense of place and scope to the story.

The subject matter is not shown or handled in a crass or graphic way but there is a sentimental tone to the film, which felt a bit at odds with trying to portray such a dark story.

The script and editing are definitely lacking a sense of pace and not really showing the conflict of what is at stake for Tim Ballard. There is little shown in the way of personal cost: his marriage doesn't suffer, his finances aren't on the line, his career isn't at risk, there is little trauma hinted at so nothing really feels at jeopardy. The film also doesn't really elaborate as to why, after having experienced so much of the darker side of life for many years, this one particular scenario with lost children causes him to quit his job and pursue to rescue them personally.

There were also some strangely presented sequences which felt a bit unbelievable (in fairness, could have been based of reality...) The direction of some of these situations didn't quite translate in a realistic way for me. The catalyst of the story involved a father leaving his two children in a hotel room with strangers for 8 hours, then returning and being shocked to find them missing, felt quite forced. Plus the idea that a lone kidnapper and an abducted child could travel on planes in America and openly across borders with no ID (rather than an underground operation shipping them, which is shown in the film too - more effective and realistic) did stand out as distracting. Plus some of the supporting characters are cast/portrayed as a bit cartoonishly creepy.

There is very little in the way of religious elements/preaching in the film (despite what I'd been told before I saw it) but Jim Caviezel does play the character as slightly pious and his nobility rising above all the darkness. The rescued children just instinctually know he's honourable and bond under his protection immediately (he takes a rescued child out for a burger after arresting the abductor, and the child shows no suspicion about going off with another unknown man) so there is very little shown of the children's paranoia and mistrust of him after all they've been through. It almost comes across as sentimental which didn't really work for me considering the subject matter.

The child actors are very good, but they don't seem to have the blank dead eyes or malnourished/bruised appearance of what they have experienced. That could have been portrayed a little better with make up or direction. The sequence when a group of children all start singing in unison minutes after a rescue operation had saved them ("That's the sound of freedom" says a federal agent) felt quite cheesy and unrealistic after all the horrors they'd experienced up to that point.

Other films and TV shows have explored darker subjects in more dramatically effective ways (True Detective/Incendies/You were never really here) or in more action thriller ways (Taken/Spartan/Rambo: Last Blood), whereas this film has a more sentimental and earnest mawkishness (which is bordering on corny at times...)

It's a film worth checking out to make your own mind up about. It was much less controversial as a film as the hype had been (it's actually quite conventional as a drama and the characters and slow pace could be considered a bit dull). It has great cinematography and decent performances though and does address a serious subject. Plus as it was distributed outside of the Hollywood system, it is unique in that regard.

Average True Story Crime Drama - Sound of Freedom review by GI

This crime drama cum thriller is based on a true story and it's a fairly routine affair telling the story of US cop Tim Ballard and his mission to rescue kidnapped children who are sex trafficked. He works on a special anti paedophile unit that is highly successful at catching US based offenders but he realises that the actual victims are held in South American countries where he can't help them. Quitting his job he sets out with the help of some locals to find and rescue sex trafficked children in Columbia. This takes him into highly dangerous jungle areas. The narrative focuses on two children in particular who are kidnapped from Honduras and who Tim pledges to find and return to their distraught father. Jim Caviezel plays Ballard as a rather one dimensional character and the plot as such meanders along with very little real buzz although the obvious plight of the children leaves a horrifically bad taste. This is a film that rests on its message and fails to really grip as a thriller. It's ok but lacks the bite and harrowing intensity needed to make it work as a crime film and indeed to really sell its story. Bill Camp costars and is the best thing about the film playing a former cartel member who helps Ballard in his mission.

Effective Child Abduction Thriller Set in South America mostly - Sound of Freedom review by PV

I avoided the whole media circus around this film so come to it fresh with no baggage.

As a movie it works, though not sure how closely it is based on a true story or whether the rather hysterical stats given at the end are true. At the end we see the real life 'Tim' and children.

I suppose it falls into the same category south American drugs cartel movies such as TV drama NARCOS and NARCOS MEXICO and the movie ESCOBAR. Maybe even BREAKING BAD. Maybe THE COUNSELLOR by Ridley Scott.

It works fine for what it is. Really why is it so significant who funds a movie? Most movies are coproductions and get passed for funding for ticking diversity boxes these days, I think, so I do not care if a church funded this. The number of private donor 'angels' listed at the end is the longest I have ever seen - thousands of names there.

I think this film worked, as fiction. 3.5 stars rounded up