An American box office success, the film “Sound of Freedom” is released in France on Wednesday November 15. A film surrounded by controversies which stirs up the conspiracy sphere.
It’s the film that’s getting the most buzz in mid-November. Sound of freedomthe film by Alejandro Monteverde which tells the story of a man who comes to the aid of child victims of sex trafficking, arrives in France on Wednesday November 15, after having enjoyed real success in the United States last summer, raking in more than $180 million in revenue even though its production cost less than $15 million.
If he is talked about, it is not really for his cinematographic qualities – the critics even have harsh teeth, the word “turnip” returning often. What gets people talking are the accusations against him. Release , Point and Première title on a “conspiracy film” or one “conspiracy thriller”. However, on the contrary, at the release of his preview on November 7 in Paris, Homayra Sellier, the founder of the Innocence in Danger movement which campaigns for the protection of children, spoke about a film “moving, strong”. A movie “useful”, according to Karl Zéro, former radio and TV host, who denounces the existence of pedophile networks by taking up a conspiracy theory launched by QAnon (see below). So what is it? Sound of freedom is it just a movie or a conspiracy movie?
No, the film itself is not conspiratorial
Franceinfo watched the film before its release and, in itself, no, it is not conspiratorial. It is inspired by a true story, as is made clear from the start. The story of Timothy Ballard, a Mormon father of nine children, former special agent of the American Department of Homeland Security, who created an NGO in 2013, Operation Underground Railroad (ORU), to save children kidnapped by trafficking networks sexual and allow the culprits to be arrested. Alejandro Monteverde says he wanted to raise awareness about this subject and is surprised that his film is linked to conspiracy.
The film took liberties with reality and tells of a rescue that did not happen in reality, but many fictions inspired by true stories also take such liberties. At the end, it broadcasts real images, taken from ORU’s operations on the ground. The film does not say that the NGO’s methods of posing as sex trafficking clients are controversial. Experts in the fight against child trafficking also think, speaking to the magazine Rolling Stone (in English), that the film gives a bad perception of this trafficking, since the majority of the time it is not a question of vast networks which kidnap children. The truth is, victims know and trust their traffickers. But these criticisms do not make the film a conspiracy thriller.
Fairly accurate figures on child trafficking and modern slavery
Sound of freedom also gives some figures on child sex trafficking and modern slavery which have all been verified by franceinfo. The film says two million children are victims of sex trafficking, and that’s a figure cited by the Council of Europe and the newspaper The world at the beginning of the 2000s. UNICEF nevertheless points out that it is difficult to precisely assess the phenomenon.
Human trafficking brings in $150 billion in revenue? This is a figure mentioned by Jean-Claude Brunet, the ambassador in charge of the fight against transnational criminal threats for the world day against trafficking in human beings in July 2022. The United States would be among the countries most biggest consumers of child pornography? It is in fact the second country to host the most child pornography content according to the Point de Contact association, relayed by AFP in May 2020.
The only statement that is difficult to verify is that there are more slaves today than when slavery was legal. Difficult to verify because, at the time, there was no global count or estimate as there is now. According to a report from the International Labor Organization (ILO), 50 million people were in modern slavery in 2022.
Film acclaimed by conspiracy theorists
In reality, what bothers the detractors of Sound of freedom, it’s not so much the film itself as all the hype surrounding it. It is supported by Donald Trump and Elon Musk in particular, both known for their ability to convey false information. Above all, it was taken up, in some ways, by supporters of a conspiracy theory that is very widespread in the United States and which is also beginning to be so in France.
This theory, launched by the American movement QAnon, maintains that there exists an elite, particularly Democrats, who engage in the trafficking of children for pedophile purposes but also to collect adrenochrome from them, a substance that children create. and which would allow us not to age. This theory is so widespread that it disrupted Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016, cited in what was called Pizzagate, a pizzeria accused of hosting its campaign manager’s child sex ring.
The theory was assimilated into the film upon its promotion by its lead actor, Jim Caviezel, a very controversial figure. He spoke several times about adrenochrome during interviews these last years. Tim Ballard, whose story the film tells, also made controversial remarks, linking without proof the transidentity of children and pedophilia during the promotion of the film. Through their personal positions, the two men gave a certain resonance to Sound of freedom. Ultimately, supporters of this theory seized on the film, given the proximity of its subject to their opinions, even if it never mentions elite conspiracy or adrenochrome. Tristan Mendès France, from the Complorama podcast on franceinfo, noted on X that Sound of freedom was mainly carried by people who peddle conspiracy theories, during its American release.
Difficulties encountered by film seen as evidence of elite conspiracy
Conspiracy theorists even believed they found proof of their theory in the difficulties the film encountered in finding a distributor in the United States and then in France. Sound of freedommade in 2018, was owned by Fox International but the company was bought by Disney in 2019 and, during this purchase, the film “got lost in limbo”as director Alejandro Monteverde told Variety (in English). “Then the producer raised money and bought the film from Disney. We said, ok, let’s release it, then there was Covid-19. And boom. People were telling us, before we even saw the film, that the public wanted to see films that put you in a good mood”, he continues. Ultimately, Angel Studios, a broadcaster owned by Mormon brothers, allowed the film to be released five years after it was made.
These difficulties were interpreted by some conspiracy theorists as proof that the elites were trying to prevent the screening of this film denouncing child sex trafficking. Rhetoric taken up in France. Karl Zéro, whose conspiratorial positions were highlighted by Rudy Reichstadt, director of Conspiracy Watch, says he had to fight to find a French broadcaster. This is Saje Distribution, a company specializing in films strongly imbued with Catholicism. In particular, it distributed the film Vaincre ou Mort by the founder of Puy du Fou, which also caused controversy.
Florian Philippot, the founder of the Les Patriotes movement, says, on the social network Xthat the film is only shown in very few theaters because it is “a very disturbing subject”, whereas, when the former member of the National Front published this message, the French distributor had announced it in 500 cinemas, or one cinema in four in France. Ultimately 215 theaters will broadcast it in the first week, Saje Distribution told franceinfo, or one cinema in ten.
The fact that several conspiracy specialists as well as several media outlets note the attraction of conspiracy theorists for this film seems to fuel them. Thus, Florian Philippot estimates in another tweet that “against the System which is extremely embarrassed by this film, we will have to go there en masse”. Mike Borowski, another Internet user followed by tens of thousands of people, think that “the film has been derided as being a conspiracy film [parce que] these elites do not want children to be saved from networks and these networks to be brought to light”.