When Sound of Freedom was released in July of 2023, the film earned nearly $20 million its first week in theaters. It has since grossed over $250 million worldwide.
Sound of Freedom tells the “true” story of former US Special Agent Tim Ballard who, after rescuing an 8-year-old boy from traffickers, sets out to rescue the boy’s sister through a series of vigilante undercover operations. Despite its likely well-intentioned goal of bringing awareness to the epidemic of human trafficking, Sound of Freedom pursues public interest and excitement at the expense of accuracy, ultimately doing more harm than good.
The film eagerly plays into the widespread misconception that human trafficking is restricted to those scenarios where an individual is forcefully kidnapped and taken to another country for purposes of forced labor or sexual exploitation. While this might sometimes be the case, transportation is not a required element of human trafficking, and the reality is that trafficking often occurs in everyday settings at the hands of people with whom the victims are familiar, or oftentimes even related to.
The siblings in Sound of Freedom are taken from their home in Honduras after a woman claiming to be from an agency for child stars shows up at their home offering them work as models and performers. The two children, among others “auditioning,” were then thrown into a van and taken to a warehouse to be purchased. Ultimately, the young boy ends up at the US-Mexico border while his sister ends up in Colombia, having been sold to a man in the rebel army, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
Depicting trafficking in this action-packed, harrowing manner seeks to draw viewers in and increase the film’s entertainment value. In doing so it ignores the fact that the vast majority of human trafficking cases are far more mundane and much less imaginative. In fact, a 2020 study revealed that “fewer than 10 percent of [trafficking] cases involve kidnapping.” Traffickers often take advantage of the trust and vulnerabilities of victims they know, for instance by exploiting a drug dependency or preying on underprivileged children who desperately seek stability and attention.
Further, Sound of Freedom problematically centers on Ballard’s heroics, grossly misrepresenting the experiences of trafficked children. From beginning to end, the film focuses on Ballard’s own emotional reaction to trafficking and his desire to feel fulfilled by rescuing both children. Aside from the initial scenes depicting her kidnapping, the young girl is not seen again until the very end of the movie when Ballard finally rescues her. Even then, viewers are barely exposed to her experience. Sound of Freedom fails to provide any meaningful insight into the reality of the lives of survivors, and instead focuses on Ballard himself. Doing so reduces the experience of survivors, sacrificing their stories for a celebratory rescue narrative.
Moreover, the film glosses over the trauma of the survivors it portrays. After Ballard rescues the young boy, he is seemingly fine. Ballard takes him out to eat, where they discuss the abuse the boy endured and the whereabouts of his sister. Then, later in the movie, immediately following a rescue of 50+ trafficked children, Ballard observes the children playing amongst each other, his friend remarking that their laughter and chatter illustrates “the sound of freedom.”
Lastly, when the sister is finally rescued, the movie simply depicts her happily reuniting with her father, ignoring the traumatic response she would be having. In fact, the closing scene of the movie closely mirrors the opening scene, showing the young girl playing drums and singing in her Honduras home. This is almost exactly how the film opened, implying that her life has easily returned to a normal, carefree childhood. Sound of Freedom continuously reinforces the idea that the horror of trafficking ends when the victim is free, neglecting the long-term psychological, emotional, and physical effects of their trauma. By failing to explore the traumatic aftermath of trafficking, the film perpetuates another harmful narrative that rescue alone is sufficient to rehabilitate survivors.
To make matters worse, Ballard himself has since been accused of both sexual assault and human trafficking. Ballard recently resigned from the anti-trafficking organization that he founded, Operation Underground Railroad, as several women began to come forward with claims that Ballard “preyed on their desire to help trafficking victims, coercing or forcing them into sexual encounters as part of their undercover work in brothels, strip clubs and massage parlors.” He has also been accused of coercing these women to “act as his wives and perform sex acts with him.”
Sound of Freedom not only sensationalizes the wrong narrative, but also shines a spotlight on the wrong “hero.” These allegations deeply undermine Ballard’s credibility and further emphasize the need to ensure the world does not treat Sound of Freedom as a legitimate illustration of human trafficking.
Portraying trafficking as a series of high stakes abductions and rescues in foreign settings harmfully perpetuates the narrative that trafficking is always a comprehensive, international affair. This misrepresentation negatively impacts public perception of trafficking and hinders efforts to recognize and address trafficking in local communities.
Highlighting the quieter, but much more pervasive instances of trafficking is crucial to increasing awareness, effectuating change, and dispelling the common misconception that human trafficking exists primarily as portrayed by movies like Sound of Freedom.
As a final note, to meaningfully address the epidemic of human trafficking, the movement must be driven by and centered around survivors. Their lived experiences provide them with insight that can be used to both educate the public and provide law enforcement with unique expertise regarding anti-trafficking efforts. This approach gives survivors access to the support they need and allows their reality to be acknowledge, validated, and used to work towards truly ending human trafficking.
As part of this series, the CSE Institute will continue to explore how films like Sound of Freedom contribute to a narrative that distorts public understanding of commercial sexual exploitation through sanitization, normalization, glamorization, and sensationalization. This blog was written by 1L blogger Annie Langhauser.
All views expressed herein are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or of Villanova University.