What child trafficking expert really thinks about 'Sound of Freedom' (2024)

Sound of Freedom's portrayal of sex trafficking does not represent the most common ways people may become victims of the crime, according to a child trafficking expert.

The surprise box office success of 2023 follows Tim Ballard (Jim Caviezel) who left his role at Homeland Security to begin his own organization known as Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.) to help combat child trafficking.

The film has divided fans and critics for its portrayal of sex trafficking, with some experts even suggesting it is not an accurate representation of how governments and agencies fight the multi-billion dollar illicit industry. O.U.R. was even the subject of a 2020 investigation which accused it of conflating the truth of its missions and had its operations slammed by government agencies for not following best practice guidelines, according to Vice News.

"Human trafficking is a global crime that trades in people and exploits them for profit. People of all genders, ages and backgrounds can become victims of this crime, which occurs in every region of the world," as defined by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

It adds: "Traffickers use violence, fraudulent employment agencies, and fake promises of education and job opportunities to trick, coerce and deceive their victims."

Sound of Freedom's portrayal of how some people end up in trafficking was not a reflection of the reality for most victims, according to Rachel Lovell from the National Crime and Justice Research Alliance.

Lovell told Newsweek "there's a lot of misunderstanding around what the nature of human trafficking looks like."

"There's a lot of spatialization of human trafficking in films to give a false perception of the extent of human trafficking in the numbers, scope and the nature of what it is," said Lovell, who is also the director of the Criminology Research Center at Cleveland State University, and added: "Labor trafficking is much more common than sex trafficking but it's often completely ignored."

Any kind of trafficking rarely happens as portrayed in films such as people being "snatched from malls," as Lovell described, but are people who "are exploited through vulnerabilities," often by their loved ones.

They're "not tied to the bed" as is sometimes seen in media, but "tied to other kinds of bonds," Lovell explained, saying "because they have a lack of resources, and long histories of neglect and abuse and vulnerabilities, that anyone could really be a victim if you know how to find someone at their lowest time in their lives."

Lovell was clear, that if "you tell people to be afraid of the scary monster who's going snatch you," then that's what people will be vigilante against, rather than "the family member who's going to exploit them, or the person who's pretending to love them."

"So they might miss what it actually looks like and... then people don't recognize that they aren't able to see it," she said.

The trafficking expert was clear not to "disparage" any organization working against trafficking, Lovell explained why a misrepresentation of the issue matters because it makes it difficult to "actually address it in the most effective way."

"And often it can even harm certain victims by sensationalizing it and not representing it in a fair way," she said.

Lovell also told Newsweek that while she has not worked directly with O.U.R. and even though it has faced criticism, "they have a flexibility that the other system based folks do not have."

Newsweek contacted O.U.R. by email for comment.

But when it specifically comes to child trafficking represented in Sound of Freedom where children are moved across borders, including to the U.S., Lovell was clear to point out that the trafficking of people "internationally is much less common."

Rather, data and research shows domestic trafficking within a person's own country is much more common as is "sex tourism" where people travel somewhere to where "children have less protection."

"I'm not saying it doesn't happen, because we know it does," Lovell said, adding "it's just so sensational" to portray it the way Sound of Freedom has.

But the film's director, Alejandro Monteverde, told Newsweek he never set out to make a film that 100 percent reflected reality, but did enough to raise awareness of the scale of the problem. He also said he shot the film in a way so the audience knew they were watching a movie rather than an entirely accurate portrayal of Ballard's missions. Monteverde explained they rolled a number of Ballard's missions in one so the film would be more powerful.

"I wanted to make an important film, that had the potential to create a conversation. But at the end it's a just a movie," he said.

"Now, the film is about a very important subject matter, but people don't dissect every biopic they watch because they know you have to take creative license. I wanted it to be very stylized because I wanted the audience to know that they're watching a film."

Another point of conversation around Sound of Freedom was its "pay it forward" message that appeared at the end of the movie that saw Caviezel ask them to buy tickets online for others as a means to promote the film's message that "God's children are not for sale." It was also designed to provide tickets for those who could not afford to buy their own and the method helped bolster box office returns.

Lovell argued while that was a noble gesture by the filmmakers, there were plenty of ways people could become involved in the fight against child trafficking.

"The first thing that individuals should do is to really educate themselves more on on the realities of trafficking, and that many credible organizations are providing trainings on trafficking 101," she told Newsweek.

When it came to raising awareness, Lovell said not to "focus on this sensational, Hollywood version of what that is."

"Do your due diligence, to get a good understanding of what human trafficking is. And then, there's a lot of good volunteer opportunities to help make a difference," she said.

Some of those opportunities included street level outreach and fundraising but it was key to "learn more about it from reputable sources in your community."

While it was important to raise awareness about the severity of trafficking globally, Lovell argued what often gets lost is the narrative of the survivors.

"When you're talking about victims, the savior often gets the focus and not the survivor," she said, adding "the attention should be" with the survivor.

"I would really encourage people to focus on the actual survivors and not the perpetrator or the rescuer, who tend to be the ones that get most of the attention."