On July 4, Angel Studios pulled off the unthinkable. The Utah-based entertainment company famous for the megahit series "The Chosen" released a film that topped the same-day debut of the latest Harrison Ford movie, "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny."
"Sound of Freedom" stars Jim Caviezel ("The Passion of the Christ," "The Thin Red Line," TV's "Person of Interest"). It racked up $14,242,063 compared to "Dial of Destiny's" $11,698,898, according to Boxofficemojo.com. (See updated box office numbers)
Yes, it's a quirk. It happened because of advanced ticket sales, brilliant marketing and sponsorships that allowed many people to get free tickets. It's not expected to rival the final box office numbers of "Dial of Destiny," which undoubtedly will be a blockbuster in the hundreds of millions domestically and over a billion worldwide.
But still. This is remarkable for a small studio going up against a legendary franchise.
"Sound of Freedom" is based on the true story of Tim Ballard, a U.S. Homeland Security agent who quit his job in order to rescue children from global sex traffickers. A father of six at the time (now nine, including two adopted rescues), he got the green light from his wife Katherine (played in the movie by Mira Sorvino) to undertake this dangerous mission as a calling from God.
Written and directed by Alejandro Monteverde ("Bella" and "Little Boy") and produced by Eduardo Verástegui, who starred in "Bella," the movie is a real-life thriller, but without the kind of graphic content that Hollywood normally likes to shove in our faces.
If anything, the film makes its point in an understated – but not boring – manner, according to a friend of mine who has worked for years against sexual trafficking and who attended the premiere showing at a theater in Northern Virginia.
An estimated 27.6 million people worldwide are being trafficked at any given time, according to the U.S. State Department. This includes thousands of children in the United States. Trafficking is "a crime whereby traffickers exploit and profit at the expense of adults or children by compelling them to perform labor or engage in commercial sex."
"Sound of Freedom" homes in on children trafficked for sexual purposes, a trade fueled by a global market in child pornography.
Operation Underground Railroad, founded by Mr. Ballard, estimates that 500,000 child predators are active online every day, using sophisticated algorithms to access personal data.
Now, let's shift gears into the larger topic of children as pawns. An untold number of what I would call predators operate openly in public schools across the land. They ply children with sexual content in the name of "education" and push confused children toward LGBTQ lifestyles and gender transitions that could maim them for life.
The pervs in the raincoats who used to lurk outside the schoolyard are now in the classroom or in libraries handing out their treats with the blessing of teacher unions.
Many, many parents have had quite enough and are either pulling their children out of government schools or taking on school officials, even in leftist-loon-dominated places like Montgomery County, Maryland.
In late June, about 1,000 parents rallied in Rockville outside the school district headquarters. The protest, organized by Family Rights for Religious Freedom, began to take shape after the county school board revoked an opt-out provision from being assigned to read six new LGBTQ-themed books.
The no-opt-out policy echoes the slogan that Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore has placed on more than 20 state welcoming signs: "Leave no one behind." For accuracy's sake, they might want to make it, "Let no child escape."
Indeed, the books include "Pride Puppy," aimed at preschoolers. It includes a scavenger hunt to look for "items like underwear and leather," according to the Washington Post. Tots are also supposed to look for illustrations of noted people such as Marsha P. Johnson, "who parents targeted for her occasional sex work."
"Occasional sex work?" Yeah, most parents might find that problematic in a role model. By the way, Johnson was a black drag queen famous for his exploits at the Stonewall Inn bar riot on June 28, 1969 in New York City's Greenwich Village. That's when mostly drag queens fought back during a police raid, kicking off the "gay liberation movement."
In June 2016, President Obama designated the bar and streets around it as the Stonewall National Monument, right up there with Mount Rushmore, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.
One of the groups in the Montgomery County uprising is the local chapter of Moms for Liberty (MOL), a 100,000-strong national group that the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center has designated an "extremist anti-government" group. Working alongside them are Muslim and Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, the latter of whom are black. You'd think the woke school officials would love the diversity and inclusion.
But the board doubled down, insisting, "there is no content instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in elementary school." They forbade any opt-outs. Finally, giving advance notice about the books "will not be possible."
This column began with a report about the encouraging success of "Sound of Freedom."
While the parents taking on school establishments don't face the physical risks that Tim Ballard still does, they're clearly out of step with a regime that doesn't like dissent. That takes courage and a willingness to be called names like "haters" or "extremists."
It's a small price to pay to rescue children, who are created in the image of God, from predators near or far.
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