Leftists Mock Anti-Sex Trafficking Film As "QAnon Adjacent"

Sometime between the years of 2018 and 2023, Left-leaning news outlet The 
Guardian went from writing their own exposes about child sex trafficking to 
denigrating a movie that does the same by calling it "QAnon-adjacent."

Reviewer Charles Bramesco makes no effort to hide his abhorrence for the 
massively popular Angel Studios film "Sound of Freedom," which recounts the 
true story of Tim Ballard, a federal agent who quit his job to save a young 
girl from sex slavery in South America. The newly released movie shocked 
Hollywood industry insiders with its impressive box office numbers despite a 
lack of major promotion.

"Sound of Freedom" was in the number one spot at the U.S. box office on July 
4, beating out Disney's highly-anticipated "Indiana Jones and The Dial of 
Destiny" and other huge releases during the 4th of July holiday.

Bramesco won't even admit that success was valid. The reviewer said that 
"Sound of Freedom" only outperformed "Indiana Jones" for a "fleeting moment 
this past Fourth of July, while the intended audience of Indy's latest outing 
was presumably spending time with their families and friends at barbecues or 
in other social situations."

He further called the undeniably impressive box office ticket sales reports 
"selective" and as having "almost willfully misleading framing" to create a 
"David-and-Goliath narrative."

Box office earnings aside, it's hard to see how a formerly bipartisan issue 
such as working to end the horror of human trafficking could possibly be seen 
as primarily Right-wing, or as controversial in the slightest.

Conservative commentator Jack Posobiec pointed out how The Guardian itself 
did an in-depth expose on child trafficking in 2018. The piece, titled "Child 
sex trafficking rife in Colombia's picturesque Cartagena," featured 
interviews with victims of the practice, including teenage girls who were 
kidnapped, raped, and otherwise abused.

	The Guardian ran a huge exposé on child sex trafficking in Columbia 
	in 2018

	Now they are saying it's a conspiracy theory to watch a movie about 
	child sex trafficking set in Columbia pic.twitter.com/sQHVUpaKlM

	-- Jack Poso ???? (@JackPosobiec) July 7, 2023

Writer Mathew Charles described trafficking as the country's "shameful 
problem" that had become "out of control" in the city. The expose also 
highlighted the thriving sex tourism industry where younger victims fetched 
the highest prices. One interviewee said underage workers "earn a lot more."

"Clients pay more for them, but sometimes they can be scared. Often, they're 
given drugs first or lots of alcohol to get them drunk. I think it makes it 
easier," the 24-year-old sex worker explained.

This coverage stands in stark contrast to the "Sound of Freedom" review, 
which paints the panic over child sex trafficking as some kind of Right-wing 
conspiracy theory. Bramesco focuses much of his vitriol at the film's lead 
actor Jim Caviezel.

"Even if he did not literally have the face of Christ, Ballard would still 
exude an angelic aura as he gently hoists dirty-faced moppets out of peril 
with the gravely uttered catchphrase: 'God's children are not for sale,'" the 
Guardian reviewer writes of Caviezel's performance, referencing his former 
role as Jesus in Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ."

Bromesco admits that the movie is solely about trafficking and doesn't delve 
into any fringe conspiracy theories. But the reviewer insists that "Sound of 
Freedom" is a Trojan horse in that respect, implying that viewers are being 
tricked into believing more elaborate conspiracies just by accepting the film 
at face value.

"The trafficking follows no motivation more elaborate than the servicing of 
rich predators, eliding all talk of body-part black markets and the precious 
organic biochemical of adrenochrome harvested as a Satanic key to eternal 
life," he writes. "The first rule of QAnon: you don't talk about QAnon where 
the normals can hear you."

The Guardian reviewer next accuses "Sound of Freedom" of "prend[ing] to be a 
real movie" just as he accuses crisis pregnancy centers, which offer 
mothers-to-be resources and prenatal care, of "masquerading" as "bona fide 
health clinic(s)."

Bromesco concludes by mocking Angel Studios for providing a QR code that 
would allow viewers to purchase tickets for other prospective attendees. He 
sees the whole thing as a shameless money grab rather than as a way for 
creators to find a creative way to spread the message.

The Guardian review of "Sound of Freedom" is not common. Moviegoers are 
mostly stunned and moved by the effort by Mexican filmmaker Alejandro 
Monteverde.

Reviewer Aaron Gleason at The Federalist called the film "a heartbreaking and 
hopeful call to action." Unlike Bromesco, he believed the central aim of 
"Sound of Freedom" creators was to inspire viewers to take action against 
these atrocities. Gleason notes how Caviezel gives a stunning performance, 
but ultimately it's the young actors who drive the message home.

"It's about the children -- lost, invisible children who suffer in the depths 
of hell every single day. While the rich and powerful try to indoctrinate us 
with critical race theory and other ideological moralisms, true victims 
suffer in literal cages and chains," he writes.

Even more mainstream reviewers found the movie effective. A Variety reviewer 
said Caviezel "anchors" this "solidly made and disquieting thriller." They 
also wrote that while it's "been sold as a 'conservative' thriller," you 
"don't need that mindset to find it compelling."

"You needn't hold extreme beliefs to experience 'Sound of Freedom' as a 
compelling movie that shines an authentic light on one of the crucial 
criminal horrors of our time, one that Hollywood has mostly shied away from," 
Variety writer Owen Gleiberman concluded after stating he does not believe in 
Pizzagate.

The movie currently has a 79% rating on movie review site Rotten Tomatoes and 
a 100% audience score.

Interestingly, The Guardian released their own short film about child 
trafficking in June. "The hunt for India's stolen children" tells the 
shocking story of teens and younger children who go missing in the 
Sundarbans, a mangrove forest located in India's Bay of Bengal.

The 15-minute video has many of the same elements as "Sound of Freedom." 
There are survivors who recount some of the horrors they experienced after 
being drugged, kidnapped, and gang raped. At one point, a non-profit 
coordinator admits that at least one victim was kidnapped specifically for 
traffickers to sell their blood.

The Guardian's video also features police staging a rescue of two sisters who 
were trafficked to another region and sold as sex slaves. Viewers could argue 
that their story was a shorter version of Agent Ballard's quest to reunite 
trafficked siblings.

The major difference between "Sound of Freedom" and "India's stolen children" 
is the framing. The Guardian's expose blames trafficking on poverty in the 
region that's exacerbated by climate change, which has caused the already 
impoverished region to become poorer and less stable.

"The Sundarbans is the world's largest mangrove forest and one of the most 
climate vulnerable locations on the planet," the video description says. 
"Climate change has taken an enormous toll on the rainforest in recent years, 
repeatedly uprooting families and decimating the incomes of residents who 
have traditionally relied heavily on agriculture and fishing for their 
livelihoods."

"Now, repeated natural disasters and environmental changes to the region have 
created a highly vulnerable population increasingly at risk of participating 
in or becoming victims of child trafficking," it reads.

Ending child trafficking is still a topic leftists will champion. But only 
when it fits the rest of their narrative.

--
Let's go Brandon!