Jim Caviezel, a Christian actor of “The Passion of the Christ” fame, said he wants his upcoming thriller “Sound of Freedom” to shed light on the reality of child sex trafficking in the United States and warn parents of what he called a “pedophile agenda” that has been pushed for decades.
The film stars Caviezel as Tim Ballard, a Homeland Security agent who, after rescuing a young boy from traffickers, learns that the boy’s sister is still captive. He quits his job and puts his life at risk as he embarks on a mission deep into the jungle of Colombia to save the girl.
In an interview with EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders,” Caviezel and the real Tim Ballard said what the film depicts, as dark and disturbing as it may be, is based on real events and people.
“I will say, it is a true story, absolutely,” Caviezel told host Jan Jekielek. “Every character is real. Every bad guy is real.”
“At the end of the film ... it showed all the good guys, the bad guys, the kids, and it said where they are today,” said Ballard. “We know where they are. Those are real kids, every one of them. Some of them work for us. Some of them have actually rescued people from human trafficking as young adults.”
In 2013, Ballard left his government job to found Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), a non-profit organization working with law enforcement around the world to rescue children from exploitation and help survivors recover. They have been operating in places where instability and conflict make women and children more vulnerable to trafficking, including countries like Ecuador, Mexico, and Ukraine.
Tragically, according to OUR, the kidnapping and sexual exploitation of children in those countries is being fueled and propelled by a growing U.S. customer base.
“The big numbers: $150 billion a year are made off the backs of men, women, and children as slaves,” Ballard said, noting that some 27 million people around the world live in slavery, with 6 million of those being children.
‘A Huge Weapon Against the Evil’
In 2019, Ballard testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, arguing that an expanded, strengthened U.S.–Mexico border barrier provides an “effective tool” in combating those trying to smuggle children into the country for the purposes of selling them for sex. He now believes that the countries’ poor border enforcement might be part of a broader agenda catering to this lucrative market.“Why are there over 85,000 unaccompanied minors showing up in the last two years at the southern border and are delivered to sponsors with no background check, no DNA testing?” he said. “Thousands of these kids ... showing up alone with a name: ‘Call this number, please, and take me to my sponsor.’ They call the number and they show up.”
“The fake news media outlets are also propelling this agenda that don’t call them pedophiles. They want to call it minor attracted persons, or MAP,” he added. “Sexualizing kids, giving kids right to consent, pushing God out of education—all the platforms the organized pedophile groups have been peddling, the woke left is now implementing them.”
For parents and concerned Americans, Caviezel said his film will help them better understand the reality and what they need to do to protect their loved ones.
“The film is very powerful because it shows you how routinely [child sex trafficking] occurs,” he told Jekielek. “But it also helps you. It weaponizes you to know what the warning signs are. A mother and a father have to guard their children and protect them. And by sticking your head in the sand is not protecting your children.”
A Fourth of July Message
“Sound of Freedom” is set to arrive in theaters on July 4, meaning that it will run into huge-budget blockbusters such as Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible,” Harrison Ford’s “Indiana Jones,” and Christopher Nolan’s atomic bomb drama “Oppenheimer.” But Caviezel insisted on that specific release date.“For some reason, that Fourth of July thing was really important,” Caviezel said. “And really it is: Can we give these children back their freedom on our Independence Day?”
“This is a very dark time to be an American, because we really don’t have a country now,” he continued. “By country, you have to be a sovereign nation with with borders, but we don’t have a southern border anymore. It’s all that’s part of the fabric of our country.”
Caviezel moved on to talk about his audience, saying that many of them are upset about the cultural shift, the radical leftist sex and race indoctrination in K–12 classrooms, and big corporations promoting overt sexualization of children.
“And out of nowhere comes this light: It’s called ‘Sound of Freedom,’” he said. “It represents what they believe in America is like. They will put their money into something that represents God to them.”
According to Caviezel, “Sound of Freedom” is outselling the fifth “Indiana Jones” installment by 25 percent as of June 21, when the interview took place.
“I think a lot of people that saw this movie wanted to do the right thing. It’s kind of like Jesus talking about the seed where it lands, and the good seed and the bad seed and all that, and you see it right in front of you.”
