Sound of Freedom, the true(ish) story of Tim Ballard — a homeland security agent who leaves the government and sets up Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), an anti-human trafficking outfit that rescues children from sex traffickers in South America — wouldn’t be all that noteworthy in another era. The US has been churning out films of this sort — florid, paranoid vigilante fantasies, at once laced with self-loathing and psychotically patriotic — since at least 1974.
That this film took out the No. 1 spot in the US over the weekend might be interesting because it did so without major studio backing. It was partly crowdfunded and seemingly successfully courted its faith-based audience.
But this is 2023, so that’s not all.
Sound of Freedom has managed the reputation as the first QAnon blockbuster. This is partly down to some of star Jim Caviezel’s theories. In 2021 he attended the “Health and Freedom Conference”– a “rally of COVID-deniers and QAnon lunatics”, according to Vanity Fair.
If the fact that former attorney and alleged January 6 Capitol riot inciter L. Lin Wood had attendees applauding furiously by miming a “Q” in the air doesn’t quite capture the flavour, Caviezel talked about the baseless theories around organ harvesting and “Adrenochroming” of trafficked children. At the subtly named “For God & Country: Patriot Double Down” event later the same year, Caviezel spouted the QAnon catchphrase: “We are headed into the storm of all storms. Yes, the Storm is upon us.” Rolling Stone has called the film a “superhero movie for dads with brainworms”.
But Ballard has from time to time indulged in theories that could be described as Q-adjacent, such as the Wayfair trafficking hoax (Ballard has insisted his organisation doesn’t want QAnon adherents’ support). Not to mention its tactics, like the usually foolproof “asking a psychic where to find victims” (it didn’t work, but Ballard at least came away knowing that he would soon feel a sense of clarity over a troubling personal relationship), which have led to botched raids that the group is accused of distorting.
Ballard has “recently stepped away” from Operation Underground Railroad, incidentally.
None of this has stopped right-wing media figures such as Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson from supporting the film, while former US president Donald Trump has organised a screening at his Bedminster Gold Club (the same golf club where he may have committed some very light crimes).
The film makes no explicit reference to QAnon theories and the makers deny any connection. “Anyone who has seen this movie knows it has nothing to do with conspiracy theories,” Angel Studios president Jordan Harmon said. “It’s about a man who did something brave.”
It may not be about conspiracy theories, but it sure is attracting them. There’s been a flurry of posts showing empty cinemas screening the film, despite apparently being sold out. And there have been allegations that screenings have been sabotaged.
So just *who* is trying to stop the people from seeing this film? Just which of those elites doesn’t want the shocking truth about child trafficking to reach American eyeballs? In the words of one poster: “Why don’t don’t paedo-enablers, rogue iNfLuEncErs, and mainstream media outlets want you to see this movie?”
Well, it could be a conspiracy, or it could be down to the movie’s “pay it forward” marketing. You can spend up to US$10,000 (A$14,657) on tickets for the film for other people to claim. Or not claim, as the case may be.
What’s significant about this film is not the plot line, or the Q adjacent references, but this:
It’s a line in the sand that shows how far we’ve come from the days when Hollywood billionaires, J Edgar Hoover, Joe McCarthy and other elites could control what the masses could see.
This film might be a treat for the right wing, but if the trend continues, other wings will have their day too, and the resultant smorgasbord of views that reach an audience thanks to this new funding model could signal the end of the nation state monoculture.
How many great books have you read that changed your view of the world, even though you knew “they would never make a movie about that.”?
Well, what if now they would, because what if now, they, thanks to the fungidity of capital are becoming us?
The internet made this possible literally decades ago.
(Lots of anecdotes on the socialz about “sold out” screenings with only a handful of real people actually attending, as well.)
The internet and crowd funding first appeared a generation ago. This is a good illustration of how social change occurs more slowly than technological innovation.
Established film makers and studios resisted change because they could keep on doing what they were doing and still make money. We had to wait for a new generation of film makers who lacked access to come of age and give us what we’re starting to see now.
But how is it even possible that a new generation of film makers exists? What overcame the chicken/egg conundrum that kept traditional film distribution in power?
It was another generation of technology that made it possible for kids to grow up into master film makers without learning to kiss the studios or the financiers’ rings.
iPhone, Android, Final Cut Pro and After Effects are the tools that put the power in the hands of whoever wanted it.
I hope this works out in the long term.
Unfortunately this history of internet revolutions has thus far been the history of ensh*tification.
We’ll see…
I must admit I’m struggling to understand what you see as so revolutionary here.
Low-budget indie films have been around a long time. Blair Witch, to pick one of the most successful examples, was released in 1999.
If it’s mass exposure that’s a success measure, then putting it on Youtube would probably have delivered an order of magnitude more views.
Well, there was a lot of money behind Blair Witch eventually.
https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/blair-witch-and-the-rise-of-viral-movie-marketing/
And Sound of Freedom might be something similarly contrived, I don’t know.
What I’d like to see eventually is for an evolution or revolution of the processes of aculturation which came to be what they were throughout the broadcast TV and Radio era, once those media are no longer decisive.
I’d like to see a more grass roots meritocracy wherein music, film, stories and art spread by word of mouth without top down directives.
How? When? It’s a work in progress. The first elements have arrived, with the internet, and personal devices and production tools. The rest of the infrastructure isn’t there yet. I think social media such as FB, Instagram, Twitter are false starts. They started off promising something too good to be true, and then once they had captured the masses, they revealed themselves as something other than what they began as.
The system I’d like to see would not be owned by single entrepreneurs or entities like those first generation social media companies. They would be collectives or non monolithic entities. They would be associations rather than corporations. They would be uncorruptable by nature of their structure, which is the opposite of today’s social media corporations.
Once that happens, art will be different.
While I believe you’re right, in this instance the no 1 spot appears to have been secured via the studio, such as it is, buying up the tickets. Actual attendance has reportedly been pretty small.
Ah ha! So now we have a conspiracy theory about a movie that is said – by some – to be based on a conspiracy theory.
None of the comments here so far about child trafficking.
It’s them moderators, moderating.
And if they choose not to make a movie, Frank? Will that just feed your conspiracy theory?
i heard on a podcast, from actors and writers, about the “antics” that Jim Caviezel got up to when staring in the series “Person of Interest” — the dude is tremendously naive and all the more dangerous because of it
The conspiracy loop. If you can’t find a conspiracy in something these days, ask yourself “Why can’t I?”
‘The film makes no explicit reference to QAnon theories and the makers deny any connection’
So good to see that you haven’t let that fact get in the way of your story….
For those interested in the topic of America and its proclivities for conspiracy, maybe try G Rundle’s book, RED, WHITE & BLOWN (Hardy Grant). “Is the United States of America a cult?” This book traces the slow growth of paranoia in America from its foundation through its political parties and social groups to the present day.