Ballard and 'Teddy Bear'
Sound of Freedom is a 2023 American action film directed and co-written by Alejandro Monteverde and features Jim Caviezel, Mira Sorvino, and Bill Camp. It was nice to see Sorvino, an academy award-winning actress (Mighty Aphrodite), back in business. Unfortunately, she only appeared in a few scenes as the wife of the protagonist Tim Ballard (Caviezel). The movie is based on a true event: Tim Ballard’s mission in Colombia. Tim Ballard, a former US government agent, embarks on a mission to rescue a young girl from sex traffickers in Colombia.
When the film starts, you might think you’re watching the translated version for Spanish audiences. This is because the movie starts in Colombia and Spanish is all you’ll hear. The English subtitle is the only way to follow the opening events that show how sex traffickers trick a father into giving up his young daughter and son. The father thinks his kids are going for an audition to begin careers in the entertainment business. Only after this prelude ends, almost six minutes later, do we know we are watching a movie meant for an English-speaking audience.
We meet Ballard. We see his efforts to win the trust of a pedophile and key operative in an American-based child-trafficking ring so he can rescue underaged sex slaves. Ballard rescues a young boy after he convinces this man that he is a customer, a pedophile like him. Ballard’s encounter with this eight-year-old boy, who says his name is ‘Teddy Bear’ (instead of Miguel), triggers the main plot: the mission in Colombia. The traffickers had told the boy that if he did what he was asked, no harm will befall his sister, a sex slave in Colombia. And so, after Ballard rescues the boy, the boy asks him, “Will they hurt my sister now?”
The mission in Colombia is further complicated because the traffickers have sold the sex slaves to the FARC rebels. The police can’t help in this situation and neither can the army, who are at war with the rebels. Ballard and his accomplices are in a grave situation that the US government doesn’t want to be associated with. It’s brave of him to risk his life in another country, in the citadel of the FARC rebels, to rescue a young girl he barely knows. Why would Ballard do something so foolhardy? And why would Mrs. Ballard be so supportive? Wish I had a better peep into Tim Ballard’s soul and the soul of his chief motivator, Mrs. Ballard, to understand their driving force. Their conversations didn’t help.
Overall, the movie is entertaining. It’s like a more realistic version of Taken. It has some moving scenes. The pace doesn’t feel rushed, although they could have slowed it down at certain points to create more tension. As you would expect, it is less action-packed than Liam Neeson’s Taken, perhaps a little more poignant. In fact, it seemed the filmmakers set out to make a touching movie, not an action flick. And if this was their aim, greater character-building would have helped. Even when the film ends, we know little about Ballard besides the reason he gave for why he does what he does: “God didn’t mean for any of his children to be slaves.” Funny enough, throughout the movie, he never came across as a spiritual person. But the real trouble I had was, he had no flaws, no weaknesses. He was pretty two-dimensional if you ask me. A more well-rounded main character would have strengthened the movie’s theme and made it more emotive.
Sounds of Freedom had an exciting plot. It was exciting despite not setting out to excite by embellishing a real-life event. It tried to deliver a touching story. There were no outstanding performances. Perhaps this was because the script lacked those character-developing moments. Moments when you connect with the characters because their words or actions resonate with you. Yes, there were some moving scenes, but what I needed was more character development, especially for the main character.
For a true-life story, the movie did not give enough detail. I didn’t gain any fresh insights about a world I’m unfamiliar with other than what I hear in the news. Neither did I learn enough about the main character, Tim Ballard. Some true-life movies use the voice narration of the protagonist to lend detail to the events in the story, documentary style. This deepens the viewer’s experience. But the filmmakers chose not to do this. The result is a rather two-dimensional main character and a less-than-palpable humanity in his heroism. When heroism is bereft of humanity, the hero’s deed isn’t as riveting or audience-involving as it could be. What I’m saying is, if you want audiences to appreciate a character’s heroism, show his humanity. I thought the movie could have been more emotional than it was. And this would lead to better acting performances. There are various controversies following this film. In my opinion, the movie has the potential to be more engaging and showcase better acting performances, which would have increased its chances of being recognized by the Oscars.