In a long blog post about the film, Angel Studios acknowledged some elements are fictionalized and said the film takes "creative liberties in depicting the different methods of child trafficking."Ĭampbell worries the picture of trafficking and how to address it presented by Operation Underground Railroad and, by extension, Sound of Freedom, diverts people's attention, resources and policy proposals away from where they're most needed. Some trafficking involves kidnapping by strangers, as depicted in Sound of Freedom, but often it's committed by people close to the victim who exploit trust, she said. She said trafficking takes many forms, including forced labor, which is often under-reported, and affects victims of a wide range of ages. "By doing that, I think we make actual victims of human trafficking more invisible and more vulnerable to exploitation." "Because trafficking is so varied and does span so many populations, it really tests our brain to not, not distill it down to some sort of 'this is what a common victim of human trafficking looks like,'" said Elizabeth Campbell, co-director of the University of Michigan's Human Trafficking Clinic. These popular depictions raise concerns among anti-trafficking experts, who say they offer an incomplete portrait of a real and urgent problem. On screen, Sound of Freedom goes even further in fictionalizing Ballard's story, showing him single-handedly taking on a crime syndicate in Colombia. Untangling Disinformation How documentary-style films turn conspiracy theories into a call to action Operation Underground Railroad has denied Vice's findings. "They're not whole cloth falsehoods, but they reassemble things that are true or close to being true into stories that are just wildly and completely different from what actually happened," Marchman said. Many of the missions Operation Underground Railroad describes are hard to verify or contain significant misrepresentations, according to extensive reporting by Tim Marchman and Anna Merlan of Vice News. In addition to the controversies around QAnon, the rescue story told in Sound of Freedom has also become a lightning rod. "New to Q? With the 'Sound of Freedom' movie dominating the box office and giving Hollywood seizures, we have a lot of new eyes on us!" read the title of one popular thread on a QAnon website last week. Indeed, QAnon adherents have eagerly anticipated its release and greeted the film as a way to bring new believers into the fold. Technology Unwelcome On Facebook And Twitter, QAnon Followers Flock To Fringe Sites "It's an elite drug that they've used for many years," he asserted, falsely claiming it is "10 times more potent than heroin" and "has some mystical qualities as far as making you look younger." On a recent episode of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon's podcast, Caviezel claimed "the whole adrenochrome empire" is driving demand for trafficked children. In press appearances promoting Sound of Freedom, Caviezel continues to spout QAnon falsehoods. These wild claims have become deeply enmeshed with narratives about child trafficking in recent years, from the QAnon predecessor Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which falsely alleged a pizza parlor in Washington, D.C., was home to a child sex ring, to false claims that online retailer Wayfair was selling children in the guise of furniture. For years, he's been a prominent promoter of the false, violent QAnon conspiracy theory - specifically, the baseless claim that an international cabal of elites is abusing and killing children to extract a substance called adrenochrome. It's a model distributor Angel Studios calls "pay it forward."Ĭaviezel, who previously played Jesus Christ in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, is also drawing attention to the film in other ways. Ī big part of its success is an appeal from its star, Jim Caviezel, who comes on screen at the end urging viewers to buy more tickets so other people can see it and help end child trafficking. Former President Donald Trump is hosting a screening on Wednesday at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J. The film, based on a real-life, controversial anti-trafficking activist, is being heavily promoted in conservative media. Untangling Disinformation How law enforcement is promoting a troubling documentary about 'sextortion'
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