Jim Caviezel Shares ‘Biblical Story’ Behind SOUND OF FREEDOM

Published: June 20, 2023

Jim Caviezel Shares ‘Biblical Story’ Behind SOUND OF FREEDOM

By Movieguide® Contributor

SOUND OF FREEDOM actor Jim Caviezel and Producer Eduardo Verastegui sat down with Movieguide®’s Evy Baehr to discuss the heart behind their upcoming movie.

“It’s a biblical story,” Caviezel said. “I love this story because it was like a modern-day part of the Gospel, of truth that has been so watered down and butchered… you walk into this movie, your hair’s gonna stand up. It’s highly entertaining, it’s adventure.”

In this movie based on a true story, Tim Ballard gives up his whole life, quits his job and sells his possessions, so that he can battle the world sex trade. The movie does more than just share Ballard’s story, it asks the question of the audience what they will do to protect the children.

The filmmakers hope that SOUND OF FREEDOM will awaken something in people and lead to a movement that saves the millions of children from the horrors that they are currently enduring.

Verastegui was inspired to create SOUND OF FREEDOM after meeting Ballard in 2015. Ballard opened his eyes to the extent of child trafficking that occurs in the U.S. alone. Verastegui felt immediately called to pour everything into this project and fight to end the sex trade industry.

“I’m a filmmaker, I have a weapon of mass instruction and inspiration and I think we can start a movement with this film, with your story, brother. I want to join [your] army,” Verastegui told Ballard in 2015. “There’s a lot of people out there sacrificing everything, risking their lives all over the world for many years before I even knew about this. This movie can bring everyone together.”

“With the help of God, we can end this nightmare; this terrible reality. God’s children are not for sale,” he continued.

One focus of the movie is putting the extent of the world sex trade into perspective. “It’s a $32 billion dollar business when it comes to buying and selling kids. It is a $152 billion business when you’re talking about a child having to procure money for these pimps, these traffickers,” Caviezel explains. Even if you add up all the sports teams in the world, NFL, NBA, European soccer, etc., it does not all add up to $152 billion.

In portraying this horrible industry, the filmmakers made sure to protect the children on their set from the content of the movie.

“How can you pretend to change the world and save children when the movie comes out, but you’re destroying the minds of children on set? It doesn’t make any sense,” Verastegui said. “That’s why that was a deal that we made from day one when we met Tim Ballard… The stories are really powerful, but it has to be told with integrity, with purity.”

SOUND OF FREEDOM is releasing July 4th and Angel Studios is hoping 2 million people support the movie to represent the two million children currently being trafficked.

Movieguide® previously reported:

In the movie’s first-look trailer, Caviezel says that there are nearly 2 million children trafficked each year.

“An estimated 2 million children are trafficked every year and we can help them,” he said. “SOUND OF FREEDOM is based on a true story about real life heroes saving kids from the world of child trafficking.”

The actor added that he hopes at least 2 million people can come watch the movie and help spread the information on how to help children out of trafficking. The Angel Studios production will be released over July 4th weekend. 

“We know this is heartbreaking and it hurts to look at, but the first step in helping these children is hearing their story,” he added. “Not enough people know this problem exists and even fewer people are willing to do anything about it. Our goal is to inspire two million people to attend the

film’s opening weekend to represent the two million trafficked children around the world.”

“To spread the word, Angel Studios set up a ‘Pay It Forward’ program where you can pay for someone else’s ticket who might not otherwise see it,” he continued. “Every parent, every adult, and every teenager in America should be there to see it. If millions of us come together to see this film, we could propel the movement to help save millions of children around the world and you can send the message that God’s children are no longer for sale.”