Whitlock: Critics hate ‘Sound of Freedom’ because it reminds men to eschew cowardice

A biblical narrative arc fuels the widespread snarky fact-checking and negative reviews of America’s No. 1 movie, “Sound of Freedom,” the two-hour dramatization of one man’s crusade against child sex trafficking.

It’s important for defenders of the film to recognize who is being mocked. It’s God, the Most High, Jesus. It’s not you, or QAnon, or Tim Ballard, or Jim Caviezel.

You’re not that important. You’re no threat to Satan’s seduction of the world or his plot to install a one-world government and limit freedom. Neither is QAnon, the internet conspiracy thread that argues global elites are connected through pedophilia and other sexual perversions. Neither are Ballard and Caviezel, the real-life hero and the actor who played Ballard in the movie.

Much of the criticism of the movie is camouflage, a clever ruse forcing defenders to debate it on safe, secular, and political terms. Is Caviezel a supporter of Q? Did the movie go too far exaggerating Ballard’s experiences rescuing kids? Does it promote the white savior trope?

Rolling Stone’s headline claimed: "‘Sound of Freedom’ Is a Superhero Movie for Dads with Brainworms."

In its review, writer Miles Klee concludes with the following two paragraphs:

It will surely do no good to point out Sound of Freedom’s hackneyed white savior narrative. Or its wildly immature assumption that abused and traumatized children go right back to normal once the bad guys are in handcuffs. Or that it enforces stereotypes about trafficking that Angel Studios itself says are less than accurate. To the film’s intended viewers, these cannot be flaws – they’re the whole appeal.

There is visible suffering all around us in America. There are poor and unhoused, and people brutalized or killed by police. There are mass shootings, lack of healthcare, climate disasters. And yet, over and over, the far right turns to these sordid fantasies about godless monsters hurting children. Now, as in the 1980s Satanic panic, they won’t even face the fact that most kids who suffer sexual abuse are harmed not by a shadowy cabal of strangers, but at the hands of a family member. To know thousands of adults will absorb Sound of Freedom, this vigilante fever dream, and come away thinking themselves better informed on a hidden civilizational crisis… well, it's profoundly depressing.

Are the critics hypocritically deflecting attention away from the serious problem of child sexual exploitation, an issue at the root of our compromised politicians and controlled celebrity influencers? No question. The concealment of the Epstein client list makes that abundantly clear.

The same people uprooting thousands of years of gender ideology to accommodate a tiny group of gender-dysphoric, mentally ill people strive to minimize the impact of a $150-billion-a-year industry predicated on enslaving kids.

Or how about this? The same people justifying rioting, looting, and massive protests because American law enforcement kills 450 black men a year (a dozen in questionable fashion) says the problem of child sex trafficking is exaggerated by conservative zealots.

It’s all nonsensical. Until you realize arguing nonsense is the point of the criticism.

“Sound of Freedom” subversively argues something completely different. The movie promotes an understanding of how God wants man to behave in the earthly realm. That message is the real hazard to Satan. “Sound of Freedom” models biblical masculinity. It depicts man’s ability to effectuate good when plugged into the proper power source – faith in, reverence for, and obedience to God.

I don’t know Tim Ballard. I’ve never met or interviewed him. It’s my understanding he’s a Mormon. We have religious differences. Based on the movie and what I’ve read about Ballard, we have a shared belief in how man behaves at his highest level.

The highest form of humanity is sacrifice in accordance with the will of God. That’s what “Sound of Freedom” depicts.

The movie is about a man who jeopardizes his career, life, and family in service to God and his fellow man. In the movie, with the blessing of his wife, Ballard leaves his government job for Honduras to rescue two siblings who were kidnapped. Ballard had no connection to the kids. He hunted child predators for Homeland Security and eventually realized he’d rather hunt for the victims of child predators.

The moviemakers took the usual liberties with Ballard’s true-life story. They made a movie, not a documentary. In the movie, Ballard killed a man to save a little girl. In real life, Ballard never killed anyone. Nor did he ever vow to rescue a brother and sister.

He did quit his job, do dangerous work in foreign countries, and rescue more than 100 kids. His heroics were worthy of a movie.

But it’s now taboo to make movies or TV shows about men who heroically sacrifice, particularly heterosexual, evangelical white men. Those movies have been demonized as a reflection of toxic masculinity and white supremacy.

Feminism and racial idolatry rule Hollywood. Viola Davis playing the role of an Amazon warrior slaying “colonizers” in “The Woman King” is sold as far more believable than Caviezel portraying a white man in South America rescuing kids. “The Woman King” fictionalized an entire history, including the African tribe’s role in slavery.

The critics loved it. They loved “The Woman King” because it celebrates the matriarchy, belittles black men, and demonizes white men. “The Woman King” rejects the biblical narrative arc. It mocks God.

It places women in the role of Jesus. “Sound of Freedom” places man in his proper role. Feminists, globalists, Marxists, and their simps do not want men – regardless of color – in their proper role.

That’s why disgraced minister Rick Warren wants women leading churches. He’s a simp more in love with popularity than being in alignment with God. He’s a reflection of most modern white ministers. Black ministers love racial idolatry more than being in alignment with God. Race determines their stance on most issues. That’s why Kentanji Brown Jackson, Brittney Griner, Stacey Abrams, and Kamala Harris are revered within the black church.

Biblical courage has been redefined as defending anything that or anyone who angers (white) evangelicals. There’s no penalty for angering Christians. The world rewards people for infuriating believers.

Biblical courage is defined by blood, not financial rewards, Academy Awards, and interview requests.

“Sound of Freedom” sends a dangerous message. It reminds men and women of what courage actually looks like.

Courage doesn’t tuck its bat and balls, put on a swimsuit, and compete against women. Courage doesn’t register homeless people to vote in the 21st century. It doesn’t create a hashtag claiming black lives matter and buy million-dollar homes in the suburbs. It doesn’t trade its freedom for “The Merchant of Death.” It doesn’t leverage the tragic death of a career criminal for a better TV job.

In service to God, courageous men risk their lives for others. Men are supposed to be courageous. The enemy wants us to remain comfortable as cowards.