Sound of Freedom
In the U.S., it raised an incredible $184 million but also ignited controversy due to its alleged closeness to QAnon circles. The movie is now arriving in cinemas of various European countries.
In the United States, in some ways, it has been the real event of the year, even more than Barbie or Oppenheimer, since it was expected that the films of Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan could raise hundreds of millions of dollars. What was not expected, though, was the success of an independent title, strongly linked to Christian themes and capable of igniting controversy for alleged proximity to QAnon circles. And now, Sound of Freedom is arriving in European cinemas. Produced by Angel Studios, after a $20 million debut at the box office that immediately turned the spotlight on itself, the film starring Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ), which tells the story of Tim Ballard, a former federal agent and founder of the NGO Operation Underground Railroad, managed to maintain an incredible tenure and imposed itself at the box office with a total take of $184 million. Enough to finish in the Top 10 of the year, ahead of such films as Indiana Jones, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, and Fast X.
(Siete 24, 2023)
The Sound of Freedom, however, has not only been talked about in relation to its box office results. In fact, the film directed by Alejandro Monteverde has been accused of being close to the conspiracy circles of QAnon. In fact, the far-right political group has been claiming for years the existence of a secret plot, organized by the so-called Deep State, composed of Democratic figures who are allegedly secretly colluding with globally active pedophilia networks. According to QAnon's theories, there is even a specific Washington D.C. pizzeria used as a front by liberal politicians. The knots are coming to a head considering that Tim Ballard himself has been criticized in the past for not fully rejecting the conspiracies advanced by QAnon, and even Operation Underground Railroad itself has come under the crosshairs because of the sensationalist methods with which it approaches its thorny issues. Their approach has been called "arrogant, unethical, and illegal." The director himself commented on these attacks, calling them ridiculous because the film went into production before the explosion of QAnon's popularity. "The origin of the film has been overlooked, either on purpose or unintentionally, by the media," the director said. "And it provides many answers to these misunderstandings." According to Monteverde's account, the idea for the film was born in 2015 after seeing a report on the news about underage trafficking. "What I found out affected me deeply," he recounted, "because I did not think it was possible. In my mind, I couldn't conceive it – an adult with a child." From that cue, an initial script was born for The Mogul – that was the title of the first version – which was, at the time, a purely fictional story. Everything changed, however, when the film's producer met Tim Ballard, a former special agent who had been assigned to the Department of Online Crimes Against Children, and who had worked as a secret agent for the U.S. department dealing with child trafficking. The script was then rewritten based on his experience.
In the US, the movie made a lot of headlines for its controversial protagonists, film director, and statements made. However, it has had huge success. Will this be the case also in Europe?
