Movie Review: Sound of Freedom

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B+

This movie may be flawed but there is no denying its emotional impact and the importance of its message. 

This film looks at an incredibly real and incredibly disturbing subject matter. The kidnapping and selling of children into sexual slavery. Though this movie may not get graphic or directly show many of the horrors, it still completely gets across the horrors of what happens to these kids. The fact that so much more is implied than shown, actually makes this all the more disturbing. One especially effective scene features the main character watching a video of what happened to one of these kids. We only see the beginning of the video and then cut to the character's face as he watches in horror. This is simply a moment of really good filmmaking. There are also a few scenes in which we see parts of this story through the kids' eyes, and these are incredibly effective. Rather than just tell us that these horrors exist, this film challenges us to actually do something about the evil things that happen in this world. This film shows us how evil prospers when good people do nothing. This is truly an important message and one that will really speak to those watching this. This movie also helps you understand why when most people hear about horrible things do nothing, but others dedicate their lives to stopping it. We see how the horrors he has seen and the unfairness of the systems that don't or can't do enough to help, make it so that he can't in good conscience just go on with his life. 

The dialogue in this movie is sometimes wonderful and thought provoking and at other times forced and too cliché. 

One of the major flaws in this film is that it doesn't actually look at any flaws in the main character. He is very interesting at first as we watch him be driven to the point where he has to do something. However, after a certain point, the character just stops feeling real to us as he is simply too perfect. He seems be more a representation of being a hero more than an actual person who is a hero. With the fact that he was based off a real person, this fault becomes even more apparent. The film also seems to run much longer than it needed to, and it could have definitely used a little trimming. 

However these flaws can't take away from the fact that this film does pack quite an emotional punch.