Yesterday my friend and I went to see the movie The Sound of Freedom. It is a very well crafted account of the work of Tim Ballard, a man of faith (member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) who went from hunting pedophiles to concentrating on freeing their victims from slavery. Independently produced and distributed, the film beat out the (God we can only hope) final installment of Raiders of the Lost Ark saga the weekend both films were released. That is remarkable, unless one remembers that the last Raiders movie stunk to high heaven and movie goers are not that stupid.
I really liked the film, with one caveat. There was an annoying technique used in the making of the movie about Fr. Stu used in this movie and I now suspect all the cinematographers working on these films took the same class at USC grad school. It is the use of big giant close ups. I don't mean a regular classic film close up with the actor framed in a certain way. I mean the camera is so close the the actor's face you can't see anything but their face all the time. It's gotta be a new technique. It is being overused.
That's it. That is my only complaint. The rest of the movie is well done, the acting by the ensemble cast of easily recognized character actors and one Oscar winner blows it off the screen. The children are wonderful - the two playing Rocio and Miguel are precious - and Bill Camp's portrayal of the reformed cartel guy who now rescues sex slaves is remarkable. In fact, all the actors playing the bad guys in this were amazing. Jim Caviezel, as always, turns in a quiet, understated, true and solid performance.
Now, because it took five years for the makers of this film to get the rights back from the original distributor and because of the politics of some of the actors, many of the powers-that-be have declared its subject matter to be another QAnon Fantasy. This is because the QAnon Fantasy includes a DNC run child pedophile ring where politicians like Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi drink the blood of children, and because of that PizzaGate thing, and because most of the nuts who believe QAnon are Trump fans. The far left, so quick to embrace the truth of the subject matter of TAKEN with Liam Neeson reject this movie's subject matter because its star embraced some pretty flipped out stuff during the COVID lock down.
Yet, we KNOW that pedophiles are real and numerous. These same people who dismiss this film will jump on any headline - no matter how old - if it deals with a pedo ring that includes priests, rabbis or ministers.
And we KNOW that sex trafficking is real. Any Vice Cop will tell you horror stories of busting 12 year old prostitutes - male and female - and somehow I don't think those kids were sitting at home and trying to decide between joining the Glee Club or becoming a 'Sex Worker'.
I reject QAnon but I have come up with my own crackpot idea - so hear me out....
I propose the following: the people RUNNING QAnon are the ones running international sex trafficking networks.
Think about it.
If they can get people to get caught up in the wild, out there, Elder of Zion types of fantasy that takes the emphasis off of the rather mundane world of selling a 10 year old Colombian boy or girl to the head of a major corporation then they can operate with impunity. If they can make some well-intentioned guy from Louisiana drive to Washington D.C. with the intent of freeing non-existent children held captive in the non-existent basement of a pizza parlour the subsequent publicity over THAT poor guy's monumental blunder makes it that much harder for the Tim Ballards of the world to get support for what THEY are doing. And because the fantasies that QAnon has come up with (using Disney, Pope Francis, all kinds of stuff) are so bizarre they are lots more fun to believe in, because having to confront the mundane evil of this issue can be devastating. It can hurt too much to realize that it exists because there is a market for it - simple economics. Simple supply and demand.
Because I am not a Democrat and not a Republican, I get to stand back while the two sides throw "you are worse than us" stuff at each other. I suspect there are just as many Democrats doing children as their are Republicans and I would bet that those Republicans have hung out with Trump and those Dems have hung out with Nancy. I have no illusions when it comes to men and women in power. Power corrupts. All of us (even the atheists) suffer from the effects of Original Sin. Those in power have to be pretty darn strong to resist the corruption and if you are already a party boy or girl? Watch out...here it comes.
BY THE WAY - those of you who do not want anyone asking questions when a 'woman' goes to a clinic to get an abortion?
Frame your objection within the lines of the issue of sex trafficked little girls. Then, ask yourself if you are really comfortable with that 12 year old girl with the hulking 'boyfriend' or hovering 'older sister' waiting outside not being questioned when she shows up to get an abortion. Ask yourself if what is happening to her is really health care.
Go see this movie. You will be laughing, crying and get pissed off all at once.
Just go.
And remember, God's children are not for sale.
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