The film The Sound of Freedom, released on the most patriotic of holidays in 2023, is a fictional account allegedly based on the derring-do of Utahn Tim Ballard (played by Jim Caviezel), a former Department of Homeland Security agent and founder of a group called Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), which is dedicated to fighting child trafficking. The film’s trailer ends with Caviezel addressing audiences and asking them to pre-order tickets to “send the message that God’s children are no longer for sale” and buy extra tickets for others to see the film (regardless of whether they do or not). This strategy helped make an otherwise obscure faith-based film outperform (at least briefly) the latest installments of the Indiana Jones and Mission: Impossible franchises—and raised accusations that the film’s box office success had been artificially inflated.
The real-life Ballard and Caviezel are both prominent longtime supporters of QAnon, the political conspiracy that traffics in exaggerated (and at times outright fabricated) claims about child abductions. While Sound of Freedom doesn’t explicitly identify the evildoers, QAnon adherents believe they know exactly who’s behind the shadowy empire of child trafficking: Liberals and Democrats such as Hillary Clinton and George Soros.
Promoted by a parade of conser vative celebrities, including Tony Robbins, Mel Gibson, and former president Donald Trump—himself central to QAnon beliefs—the film was celebrated as a triumph of faith-based independent filmmaking. But when success spawned scrutiny, the film’s façade began to crumble.