Paul Schrader on ‘Sound of Freedom’

“Sound of Freedom” is being sold as a “conservative” film, but it’s really nothing of the sort.

It checks its politics at the door to tell the true story of Tim Ballard, the former Department of Homeland Security special agent whose lifelong crusade was to fight child sex trafficking.

Controversies aside, “Sound of Freedom” is a semi-compelling movie and star Jim Caviezel is very strong in it. More importantly, it tackles a subject matter that’s as horrific as it sounds. It won’t land anywhere near my 2023 ten best list, but it’s clearly struck a chord with a good portion of red state and middle America.

After seeing “Sound of Freedom,” a few weeks back, I kind of got why it was so popular. I really did. It’s the kind of movie that is a mainstream crowdpleaser, it demands investment from its viewer and gets it — the action is somewhat gripping, the story is of interest and the characters fleshed out. Bill Camp’a cigar-chugging side character was a particular highlight.

Here’s Paul Schrader, who couldn’t get a ticket to a sold out Barbie screening and decided to watch “Sound of Freedom” instead.

SOUND OF FREEDOM. Interesting film, more interesting phenomenon. It's simplistic, schematic and effective in the Hollywood tradition of "message" movies--but is not "Christian" per se. It's also a white savior movie, the Hispanics beings saved or punished by the enterloping blue-eyed hero. I saw it with a predominately Hispanic audience who applauded afterwards, not seeing the irony in this. Also fascinating is Angel Studios. Formerly a LDS outfit out of Provo it's now a highly successful production company with physical studios and a production slate. And money-making films. In its third weekend Sounds of Freedom has returned 10x on its investment. Angel films are financed by a subscriber base who share in the returns. Angel created a self-sustaining tribal model which makes serious smart films. Hollywood heads are scratching.

Schrader’s mention of it being in the tradition of Hollywood’s past “message” movies isn’t wrong. We used to get plenty of adult-oriented, mid-budget films like “Sound of Freedom” in the ‘90s, although it does feel middle-tier when compared to the best ones released that decade.

“Sound of Freedom” has made $125 million domestically. If you include it with “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie,” then there has been enough proof this summer that there is absolutely an audience for non-superhero content, a large one, in fact. Will studio heads take notice? I sure hope they do.