Child trafficking.  Human trafficking.  We hear these words on the news all the time.  In the past these words just seemed to pass on by me.  I knew what they meant, but my mind just didn't flag on the real truth they conveyed.

A few weeks ago I had an opportunity to watch a movie I had heard about.  A friend told me she had tried to watch it but had to quit a half hour in due to the disturbing content.

It is called Sound of Freedom.  It is about child trafficking.  As it is a long movie (over two hours) my plan was to watch half of it one day and the other half the next day.  But like a book you can't put down, I watched the entirety late into that night, often through tears.

I stared at the screen through the closing music and credits.  Then I just sat for a long time after the TV had been turned off.  What an impact this experience had on me that night!

The movie is about a Homeland Security Agent (Tim) who rescues a young boy (Miguel) who had been kidnapped along with his sister (Rocio) and put into sex slavery in Honduras.  Tim isn't satisfied with saving only Miguel and turns his attentions to helping find Rocio.  He meets and coordinates with a former cartel officer (Vampiro) who has turned his life around and is helping rescue enslaved children.  They determine that Rocio is being held in a Columbian jungle complex that is considered impenetrable. 

With a meager chance of retrieving the girl, the two men try to enter the complex posing as doctors on a bogus medical emergency claim with only Tim being allow to enter.  Tim either rescues or doesn't rescue Rocio (no spoiler here).

During the final segments of the movie, Tim testifies before Congress resulting in laws being passed attempting to improve the effectiveness of the then existing laws.  He also points out that more people are enslaved now than at in any time in history.

Sound of Freedom which was released in 2023 cost $14 million to make and eventually returned over $250 million.

In addition to the emotion impact this movie had on me, there are three other aspects that stood out.

First, it is worth noting that there is a difference between detaining the providers of and the participants in these crimes and that of rescuing their victims.  Both are important and involve very different personnel and techniques.  The detaining component is mostly handled by regular police departments with certain specialized sting capability.  But the efforts regarding rescue activities may involve more clandestine and dangerous undercover work.  If I can determine how in some way I might be able to research or support solutions to trafficking, I would consider the rescue aspects most important.  I intend to seek ways in which I could help via my strong background in computer technology.

Secondly, I want to describe what was to me the most poignant revelation in the movie.  When Vampiro was let out of prison for his cartel crimes, he hooked up with a 25 year old prostitute. Following the encounter, he discovered that the woman was really a 14 year old girl. More shockingly, and the crux of my extreme disgust, was that he also learned that she had been involved in this business since she was six.

Thirdly, for some reason, not apparent to me, there have been naysayers about the release of this movie. Some have said that Sound of Freedom is not an accurate portrayal or that it sensationalizes the issue. Others have tried to link it to conspiracy theorists. My concern is that whether or not the movie is inaccurate or sensational (and it does claim to be based on real events), it establishes child trafficking as being real and not a conspiracy.

As I alluded earlier, I want to try to become active in some way, either financial or through research (or both), to help kids who are experiencing this what I consider to be most distressing crime of all.

If this brief discussion has encouraged you to act in any way, contact me at nval@me.com. I have no idea where this activity might go, but I am determined to find out.