Beware of films inspired by true stories that sacralize the supposedly exemplary lives of men who have been put on a pedestal. The era is one of debunking characters made into myths. The news has just given us two new examples in recent weeks, with the revelations of sexual misconduct by Abbé Pierre in France and Tim Ballard in the United States.
Two men praised for their Christian virtue, subjects of cinematic hagiographies (of questionable quality) in the last year, are today the subject of multiple accusations of sexual assault.
Abbé Pierre, who died in 2007 at the age of 94, is accused by more than 20 women of sexual violence over a period of five decades, revealed a report made public in July. France was stunned. The famous defender of the homeless and founder of Emmaüs was for almost two decades elected “favorite personality” of the French.
Last year was on display Abbé Pierre: a life of struggle by Frédéric Tellier, a very conventional biographical film which praised this priest whose real name was Henri Grouès. “These crimes, which shed a completely new light on the destiny of Abbé Pierre, were obviously unknown to us at the time we made this film,” said the makers of the feature film in a press release published last week.
PHOTO PHILIPPE HUGUEN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Abbé Pierre, who died in 2007, is accused by more than 20 women of sexual violence.
Never, assures Frédéric Tellier, during the years when he did research for his film with those close to Abbé Pierre nor since its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2023, has anyone offered him the slightest clue likely to to highlight this dark side, to say the least, of the personality of this man with quasi-saint status. The reputation of his film is nevertheless tarnished.
Like Abbé Pierre, accused of touching, harassment and sexual assault, Tim Ballard also allegedly abused the trust of women who admired him. An investigation of New York TimesIt was revealed two weeks ago that the founder and resigned president of the nonprofit Operation Underground Railroad has been accused by six women of sexual assault or sexual harassment. Ballard used his influence in the Mormon Church to enlist young women in his hunt for child traffickers and encourage them to engage in non-consensual sexual activity.
Tim Ballard, a former US government special agent played by Jim Caviezel in the film Sound of Freedomis the main character of this thriller shunned by Hollywood studios and produced by an independent Christian company, which experienced phenomenal success in 2023, amassing 250 million US at the box office (while its budget was only 14.5 million ).
Sound of Freedomwhich saluted Ballard’s courage on an undercover mission to free child victims of sex trafficking in Latin America, was particularly popular with fans of conspiracy theories, such as QAnon or Pizzagate. I understood this from the number of people who asked me with suspicious insistence on social networks why I didn’t talk about this B movie when it came out.
“How far would you go to save a child?” », Ballard would have asked some of these collaborators, according to the New York Timesby inciting them to have sexual relations, under the pretext that it was necessary at all times to give the traffickers the impression that they were a couple, while they were on a mission.
PHOTO SAUL MARTINEZ, THE NEW YORK TIMES ARCHIVES
Tim Ballard, who used his influence to encourage young women to engage in non-consensual sexual activity
Tim Ballard, presented as the ideal good father of a large family in Sound of Freedomwould also have solicited the services of sex workers during his missions, according to the New York Timeswhich also reports allegations of pedophilia on the part of a major investor in the film directed by Alejandro Monteverde.
Ballard quietly left the nonprofit he led after allegations of sexual misconduct by its employees, but the former adviser to Donald Trump has since been honored with a special religious ceremony at Mar-a-Lago and publicly defended by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, despite the lawsuits against him. Unlike the French, faced with the revelations about Abbé Pierre, we are not stunned.
The fact remains that these two stories remind us of the dangers of panegyrics at a time when we no longer tolerate the unacceptable behavior of public figures as in the past – fortunately.
Victims of men in positions of power were once silenced. Today, they can denounce not only the actions, but also the hypocrisy of supposedly heroic figures like Father Pierre and Tim Ballard, who built their reputation by claiming to be good Christians.
Obviously, some faithful refuse to believe the allegations against Abbot Pierre. Like these conspiracy theorists convinced that pedophiles run the American political-media “elite” believe that Tim Ballard is the victim of a frame-up.
The films in which Abbé Pierre and Tim Ballard are the heroes continue to exist, even if we know today that they paint a false portrait, whether or not it is in good faith. France Télévisions, which invested 2.5 million euros in Frédéric Tellier’s film, is questioning the appropriateness of broadcasting it as planned on its airwaves, even with the usual precautions. Alejandro Monteverde’s film is available on the Prime Video platform, without any particular context.
The biographical film is a popular cinematic genre, which has always cut corners on the truth. How willing are we to accept our inevitable share of lies?