After grossing $185 million (€171.7 million) in the US this summer, for a production budget of just over $14 million. The voice of freedomReleased by Alejandro Monteverde on Wednesday, November 15 in France.
This thriller about the trafficking of minors was eagerly awaited by the conservative right and part of conspiracy circles. For others, it is seen as a disturbing sign of the contamination of the Western imagination with a view of pedophilia that is at once religious, caricatured and far from reality.
Is this a realistic movie?
The voice of freedom tells the story of Tim Ballard, an American special agent, played by actor Jim Caviezel (Passion of Christ, person of interest). After rescuing a young Mexican from a child trafficking ring, he quits his job to find and free the latter’s sister.
This is fiction inspired by true events. Organized child crime is a dire reality: Interpol’s database lists 14,500 child offenders and 32,700 victims of minor sexual exploitation in sixty-eight countries.
Tim Ballard is a conscientious human rights activist known for founding Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), a non-profit organization specializing in infiltrating pedophile rings in Latin America and the United States in 2013. Caribbean Islands. The film tells the story of his first operation, his infiltration of the Colombian mafia in 2013, albeit in a fictional form.
His distributor in France emphasizes that the director has “He was free to present different methods of child trafficking”For example, by showing authentic images of minors held in containers or children abducted from the street, which “does not represent the majority of cases”. In France, a third of the perpetrators of sexual violence against minors are themselves under the age of 18, and in 95% of cases, the perpetrator is a family member or close friend.
Why is the film so divisive?
The film centers around the OUR organization, which defends a “strike” vision of the fight against pedophilia, very popular among the American conservative right, consisting of hidden camera penetration and attacks on organized networks. The voice of freedom Thus, several times before its release, it received the honor of the Trumpist online television channel Real America’s Voice. In France, it is highlighted by sites on the right of the political spectrum, such as the conservative radio station Sud Radio, the France-Soir site and Le Média en 4-4-2 close to certain “yellow vests”.
But OUR doesn’t just have fans. The organization has been accused of staging in the past, and it has “Long History of False Claims”confirms Ვice. His methods of vigilance—alternative covert infiltration and muscular intervention—are sometimes considered drastic and approximate, even “Troubling Love”. “The problem is that it’s too risky for the victims.”, warned Anne Gallagher, founder of the United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination Group Against Trafficking in Persons, in 2016. She also laments that their visible interventions are not accompanied by victim tracking: “They enter and leave. They have no way to track victims, no way to measure the impact of their actions. »
Where does the connection to conspiracy theories come from?
The voice of freedom Not essentially a conspiracy film. But it carries a casting sensitive to this kind of rhetoric. The main character, Jim Caviezel, is an avid conspiracy theorist who believes that US President Joe Biden is under control. “dolls”in this case “Central banks », an allusion to anti-Semitic accusations aimed at the Rothschild dynasty.
First of all, the actor took advantage of the promotion of the film and accused the American intelligence agencies of covering up pedophile networks and took up the theory of Adrenochrome, a fictitious drug that would be created using the blood of children, which he already mentioned in 2021. During a QAnon conspiracy theorists meeting in Oklahoma. More broadly, since 2016, the American conspiratorial right has become convinced that the Democratic Party is at the head of a pedophile network. It was riddled with rumors both macabre and grotesque, such as a tunnel under New York that housed tens of thousands of captured children; Furniture supplies sold on the Internet that serve under alleged code names for minors; Or even pedo-satanist elites who drink the blood of children to make adrenochrome, a substance that rejuvenates people.
More recently, conspiracy theorists say they are convinced that the earthquakes in Grindavik, Iceland, are due to the movements of the dumb.Deep underground military basesor deep underground military bases) that are believed to be the locations of abducted children.
Who distributes the film in France?
Distribution is provided by the company Saje distribution, which was founded in 2012, specializes in what the Americans call. “Faith-Based Films”, these faith-based films. It is headed by Hubert de Tors, a member of the conservative Catholic Society of Emmanuel, who was also in charge in 2023 win or die A film about the Vendée Rebellion made by Puy du Fou, priesthoodDocumentary by Damien Boyer unplanned On abortion, or in the 3rd season Chosen oneThe former of which were broadcast on C8, a channel owned by Vincent Bollore.
Whenever The voice of freedom Published in the United States in July, French conspiracy circles circulated pirated versions, in English or Spanish, and forced its non-distribution in France, which they interpreted as a sign that “Violates[ait] on high ground » and “He was upset[était] Pedophilic elite”. finally, There was no cabal that banned the release of the film, which even benefited from previews covered by France-Soir, Le Média en 4-4-2 and Info Chrétienne. All, The voice of freedom Released in 226 cinemas in France. According to the findings the worldIt is mainly programmed in suburbs and outer cities.
Source: Le Monde
Ben Stock is a writer at Run Down Bulletin. With a finger on the pulse of the latest entertainment news, Ben provides in-depth coverage of the movies, music, and television shows that are capturing the world’s attention.
