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 expos� 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!

On Mon, 10 Jul 2023 09:24:24 -0400, Ubiquitous <weberm@polaris.net>
wrote:

>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.
>

Interesting that libs will attempt to make a joke about the most
horrendous crime.

Because right wingers don't actually care about children, just the issue; hmm just like the left that.

On 2023-07-10 7:24 a.m., Ubiquitous wrote:
> 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,

"True" is a bit of an overstatement. It is heavily fictionalized.

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.

Unless you count the pay it forward thing. That probably counts as
promotion.