You probably shouldn’t see the movie “Sound of Freedom” if you’re content with how your life is going. There’s a good chance the movie will change you, whether you want to be or not.

My husband and I viewed the movie on July 3, and a huge shadow hovered over all my July 4 “Independence Day” celebrations. I couldn’t reconcile the irony of celebrating independence against the stunning story this movie reveals of the burgeoning child sex trafficking pandemic sweeping this nation and the world. I couldn’t watch families enjoying the day together without pondering the stunning statistics I learned a day earlier of millions of missing children, living in unspeakable situations, leaving behind families devastated by their disappearance.

The movie was created to raise awareness. It succeeds. So now this is me urging you to go see the movie. It’s playing through the end of the month. The goal to sell 2 million tickets to symbolize the 2 million children pulled into the sex trafficking web every year is already within reach.

If that statistic isn’t enough to light a fire in us, here’s more from the movie and its website: More people are now enslaved worldwide than when slavery was legal.

Of the 40.3 million people trafficked globally today, 25% are children.

The 2021 Federal Human Trafficking Report stated that 57% of U.S. human trafficking victims are minors. The United States is one of the top destinations for human trafficking and is among the largest consumers of child sex. (In MY America? How can this be?)

Also from the movie: “Child sex trafficking is the fastest growing international crime network the world has ever seen. It has already passed the illegal arms trade; soon it will pass the illegal drug trade, because you can sell a bag of cocaine one time, but you can sell a child five to 10 times a day.”

Those are the haunting words of Tim Ballard, a Homeland Security special agent who turned from hunting perpetrators to rescuing child victims. The movie doesn’t pull punches; you can’t avoid the intensity of Ballard (played by Jim Caviezel who portrayed Jesus in “The Passion of the Christ”) as he steps into a mind-numbingly dark world to rescue the sister of a little boy he frees. And then there are more children to free and, well, Ballard eventually founded Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.) and to date, with help from individuals and agencies, has freed 6,000 children — and adopted two.

Viewing the movie almost didn’t happen. “Sound of Freedom” was produced in 2018 and a distribution deal was made with 21st Century Fox. But then that studio was acquired by Disney Pictures, which shelved the film. We watch it today because Angel Studio — the company behind “The Chosen” series — pulled together funding and negotiated the deal.

So go see the movie. Be prepared to be horrified, scathed and heartbroken in ways no other movie can affect you. “Sound of Freedom” is “based on a true story,” a story that represents millions of children enslaved in a trade that eats them from the inside out, little children whose greatest flaw is their innocence.

Stay for the commentary after the credits roll. It’ll give you time to compose yourself while you hear additional thoughts from Caviezel such as, “The first step in helping these children is hearing their story. Not enough people know this problem exists, leaving fewer people to do anything about it” and “God’s children are not for sale.” He likens the potential of “Sound of Freedom” to how Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” fanned the flames that eventually led to emancipation for slaves.

He’s right. America is a land of compassionate people who hate wrong, love children and solve problems. But first, we need to know what they are. So go see the movie. And then do something.

We already know one person can make a difference. Tim Ballard taught us that.

D. Louise Brown lives in Layton. She writes a biweekly column for the Standard-Examiner.

Newsletter