Sound of Freedomsuccess and conspiracy
The film Sound of Freedom, inspired by the story of the controversial Tim Ballard – founder of the Operation Underground Railroad organization – has not finished talking about him. Distributed by the Christian film company Angel Studios and directed by Alejandro Monteverde, it tells with the codes of an action film Tim Ballard’s mission to save children from a vast trafficking in human beings. Great commercial success, promoted by the conservative media, has garnered since its release more than $172 million in revenue on North American soil. An exceptional performance for an independent film, despite the real discomfort surrounding it.
Sound of Freedom was blocked upon its release due to its proximity to the QAnon far-right conspiracy theories. If the film doesn’t explicitly reference this movement — it was filmed in 2018, before major QAnon media coverage — it’s her casting that makes the connection. Indeed, lead actor Jim Caviezel, who has publicly endorsed QAnon theories, has reiterated obscure words during promotion Sound of Freedombased on QAnon’s strong belief that “satanic-pedophile democratic elites“would torture and kill children as part of a”trafficking of adenochromesA promotion of an ideology shared by Tim Ballard, himself a promoter of QAnon theories.
Director denies connection to QAnon
But for director Alejandro Monteverde, Sound of Freedom it has nothing to do with the conspiratorial sphere. In an interview with Varietyhe thus claimed that the association in the media with the QAnon movement had made him”sick“.
It really hurt me. I said to myself, “That’s not right. It’s not true.” She broke my heart to see all this controversy, all this controversy. My instincts told me to run. I wanted to hide.
Well aware of the promotion orchestrated by Tim Ballard and Jim Caviezel, for which a screening was even held in their presence Donald Trump and his political entouragethe director thus dissociates himself from those.
Look, when you hire people, what they do in their spare time, we don’t control that. I made the movie. I wrote the script. And I hired the actor who seemed to me the best for the film. The topic was very personal to him. Jim Caviezel has adopted three children from China. When we met to discuss the project, he broke down in tears.
I thought, “Wow, this guy is ready to die on set.” And that’s what you want, right? You want someone who is involved. (…) I respect him, as a director who has an actor who will give everything. What do they do next? Everyone has the right to say what he wants. Now, in this particular movie, yes, it hurt my work. This is why I speak today instead of isolating myself. The time has come for me, the author, screenwriter and director, to explain the origins of the film.
An action movie corrupted by QAnon ideology?
As he explains in detail in the interview, Alejandro Monteverde wrote the screenplay for the film after seeing a report on child trafficking in 2015. At the time, Sound of Freedom is then called The Moguland its pure fiction. But no studio wants it, until Eduardo Verástegui, the film’s producer, meets Tim Ballard. The scenario then evolves with difficulty, the director does not agree with the ideas of Tim Ballard, before they are together a compromise.
Shot in 2018 under the auspices of 20th Century Fox shortly before its acquisition by Disney, the film was shelved following the acquisition. The Covid-19 arrives, complicating the new sale of Sound of Freedom whose producer eventually bought the rights from Disney. Then came the founders of Angel Studios, the Harmon brothers, riding the wave of the recent success of their Christian propaganda film His only son. They came up with the idea of adding a militant message from Jim Caviezel at the end of the film, urging viewers to buy and “donate” more seats, which Angel Studios will then distribute for free. The idea worked, even if it gave rise to the strange phenomenon of whole sessions in half-empty rooms…
In short, according to the story of Alejandro Monteverde, the material of “QAnon” by Sound of Freedom it is therefore to be attributed to a conspiratorial promotion and distribution of militant ideology, depriving him of the “normal” recognition of his work. Did he perceive upstream the risk of a recovery by the conspiracy sphere? Could he, should he have abandoned his project? The answers were not given by the director, who still claims to want distance yourself with the controversy created by Sound of Freedom.
Source: Cine Serie
Ray Ortiz is a journalist at Gossipify, known for his coverage of trending news and current events. He is committed to providing readers with accurate and unbiased reporting, and is respected for his ability to keep readers informed on the latest news and issues.
