Sound of Freedom has been surrounded by controversy, practically, since before its release; as many know, the film went through thousands of hurdles to be released. After its release in the United States, several countries have demanded its transmission and, when they got it, the controversy has not stopped chasing them.
The strongest controversy was that one of its investors was arrested for child abduction, which ironically, is the main theme of the film.
The Director of Sound of Freedom Responds to Controversy
Alejandro Monteverde, the director of Sound of Freedom, has spoken out in response to the controversy surrounding the film. For Variety, Monteverde revealed that he was not aware of the political or ideological connotations of the issue in the United States, but that he wanted to make this script about child trafficking after learning more about this problem.
At the same time, producer Eduardo Verastegui proposed he does a story about the life of Tim Ballard. After the release of Sound of Freedom, Ballard has also been accused of lying about his child trafficking raids and hindering investigations.
In addition, Ballard and Jim Caviezel, the film’s protagonist, have had very strong ties with the conservative former president Donald Trump, so Sound of Freedom has been attacked for being financed by groups with a very particular political ideology.
The director confessed that, in the face of these criticisms, he just wanted to hide, since he never imagined that the film would receive this kind of comment.
“I can’t control what people do in their free time. And there are a lot of people inside the tape who are very close to certain groups. And I love them, but I had to distance myself. ‘Sound of Freedom’ was made for religious people and non-religious people,” he revealed.
Alejandro Monteverde also clarified that he chose Jim Caviezel simply because he thought he was the best for the role and that he tries not to regret his decision.
The Future of Sound of Freedom
Finally, Monteverde shared that the mistake has always been in categorizing Sound of Freedom as a religious film because this enters into prejudices and predisposed ideas about the film. “Cataloging the film as a religious film excludes people, and I don’t want my cinema to do that,” the filmmaker revealed.
Monteverde believes that the success of Sound of Freedom is because people are looking for “inspirational stories” rather than political themes, which is why he believes that the film could have a possible sequel. “There is definitely a lot of interest in exploring the topic further, this is just the tip of the iceberg,” he revealed.
Apparently, the production of Sound of Freedom knew that the film would generate a big conversation, but they never imagined how much.
This story was written in Spanish by Kate Nateras in Cultura Colectiva
