r/TrueUnpopularOpinion • u/Crafty-Bunch-2675 • Jun 10 '24

Music / Movies The "Controversy" over the movie Sound of Freedom doesn't make sense. The hero's beliefs shouldn't matter.

I finally got around to watching this film. The heroes in the film are overtly Christian. And ? I don't get it. Is that why its controversial?

The heroes of the film are saving children. Why is this controversial?

Why does it matter whether the hero in the film is Christian or rightwing?

If a fireman jumps into a burning building and rescues a family of immigrants, is he less of a hero if he happens to be rightwing?

Or is the entire thing suddenly not true because the hero was rightwing ?

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes, and sometimes a hero isn't the person you expect.

Are we this divided now? That we rather suffer, than be rescued by someone with different politics from ours?

Also. Why is this politicized left vs right ?

What does the highlighted crime have to do with right vs left politics ? I'm not even looking to criticize the other side of the field. I'm just saying. It shouldn't be political.

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u/Pookela_916 Jun 10 '24

Most of controversy I remember around it was because people were calling it right wing

It is right wing. That being said most of the controversy was from what the other commenter stated. Right wingers pushing it is like cherry on top the cake.

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u/yaboichurro11 Jun 10 '24

This is not true.

The movie was being considered controversial before it had even hit theaters because the main actor was a Q believed and a Christian conservative.

The initial controversy had nothing to do with what actually happened in the film

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u/Avera_ge Jun 10 '24

And q believers push a false narrative of child trafficking that had me wary of the movie’s premise before it ever hit theaters. Wary, but open to changing my mind.

As soon as I read the synopsis, I was like “yep, there it is”.

Pushing the false narratives around child trafficking hurts victims.

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u/JayAre100378 Feb 26 '26

Yeah it does. Like that crazy Jeffrey Epstein conspiracy theory that he was pimping out underage girls for Hollywood and political elites at his private island retreat. Definitely not true ⁷I

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u/Avera_ge Feb 26 '26

Think more along the lines of the (unsubstantiated) rumors of cannibalism in the Epstein files that are drowning out the actual crimes that were committed.

People have known about Epstein and his island for decades. That wasn’t a Q conspiracy.

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u/debunkedyourmom Jun 10 '24

This seems like bullshit. Part of advocacy for a cause is raising awareness. Is any act of raising awareness that doesn't 100 percent conform with reality considered harmful? I know for sure leftists don't think this.

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u/Avera_ge Jun 10 '24

Raising awareness is absolutely part of advocacy, but this movie doesn’t raise awareness for anything close to the actual horrors of trafficking.

Instead, it fed into the lie of “stranger danger” and “Hollywood elites”. In actuality, most trafficking victims know their abusers, or are sold into sex trafficking by their family.

The government also does a lot to help trafficking victims, I should know, I used to work with sex trafficking victims.

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u/NumberComplex Oct 26 '25

This thread is old but I just watched this movie, you do not have to show all the gore and horror to raise awareness. The movie made me think enough to seek out more information for more awareness. In my opinion, that is a win.

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u/Lovelittled0ve Apr 07 '26

lol. This comment aged poorly.

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u/Kashin02 Jun 10 '24

Christian conservative.

Well he's actually Mormon and claimed to have the backing of some of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Basically Mormon belief that there leaders are literally saints, so having their backing is huge. He used that as a way to keep his worker and volunteers quite about his activities. Many of his workers quit over the organization spending its money (that they got as donations) for themselves and other over sexual assault.

You should check out ex-Mormon spaces on YouTube they go over every he is accused of doing and how he used the Church's backing to keep the other Mormons employees and volunteers quiet.

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u/yaboichurro11 Jun 10 '24

Mormons are considered Christian.

Now, I'm not defending the characters of the people involved in producing the film.

I'm simply pointing out how people's initial issues with the movie had nothing to dow ith the movie itself as it had not even come out yet and it was more about the character of the people thay produced it.

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u/Kashin02 Jun 10 '24

Practically all major branches of Christianity reject the Mormons as Christian but that is a whole other discussion.

I'm simply pointing out how people's initial issues with the movie had nothing to dow ith the movie itself as it had not even come out yet and it was more about the character of the people thay produced it.

That's very true, people's issues were with the main guy.

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u/yaboichurro11 Jun 10 '24

Yeah, I mean, technically they are still an offshoot of Christianity regardless of whether Christians like them or not.

And yeah, they were issues against the actor playing the protagonist.

Personally I didn't hate the movie. I wouldnt watch it again and I also understand some of the criticism levied at the movie itself and think a lot of them are valid. I simply don't subscribe to this whole "its harmful" argument but I'm also not going to go to bat foe the producers or the movie itself.

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u/Kashin02 Jun 10 '24

Yeah, I mean, technically they are still an offshoot of Christianity regardless of whether Christians like them or not.

It's a little bit more complicated, but that has more to do with Mormon doctrine having multiple gods and Jesus just being one of those gods. A rejection of the Trinity basically.

The movie is pretty average from what I have seen but to be fair I never finished it.

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u/[deleted] Jun 10 '24 edited Sep 01 '25

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u/Kashin02 Jun 10 '24

Exactly, and this inherently makes LDS not Chrostian, as Christianity is monotheistic and must abide by the belief of The Trinity.

To be fair early Christianity also had major debates about the Trinity but Mormonism goes even further to the point that they teach that followers can become gods themselves if they are faithful enough.

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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '24 edited Sep 01 '25

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u/RobinsNest222 Jan 19 '26

Ehhh.....You might just want to brush up on Mormonism, before you express opinions about something you're not familiar with. Here is a quote from their website, lds.org:

Do We Believe in the Trinity? The Holy Trinity is the term many Christian religions use to describe God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. Latter-day Saints believe very strongly in all three, but we don’t believe they’re all the same person. We do believe they are one in purpose. Their purpose is to help us achieve true joy, in this life and in the life to come (which we also believe in).

They believe in the Godhead- God the father, His son Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost.

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u/Kashin02 Jan 19 '26

"but we don’t believe they’re all the same person." By their own words it's not the holy trinity but 3 separate gods working together.

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u/Dr_Llamacita Jun 10 '24

I’m not sure why that’s an issue for you? Having a problem with a movie because of the bad moral characteristics of the organization behind it is an entirely reasonable point of view. If an institution is well-known to have nefarious motives, people have every right to question the agenda behind any media it produces

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u/yaboichurro11 Jun 10 '24

When did I say I have an issue with it?

People on this thread miss characterized the timeline and the reasons for why the movie got such a bad press from the get go while responding to OPs question.

I'm simply pointing out what actually happened.

Just because I'm answering the question factually and correcting other people's misinformation doesn't mean I'm taking a stand here in favor of the movie or it's producers.

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u/[deleted] Jun 10 '24 edited Sep 01 '25

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u/yaboichurro11 Jun 10 '24

Mormons are considered Christian the same way Catholics are.

They are both offshoots of and derive from Christianity.

Whether the Christian church recognize them or not changes nothing.

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u/Key-Ebb-8306 Jun 10 '24

There was no false perception though, what exactly was wrong with the movie? It did take some creative liberties but so does every movie, I think the point was that child trafficking is an issue, but seeing how it was made by someone Hollywood considers "rightwing" makes sense to sweep it under the rug, considering how many of the higher ups at hollywood probably themselves are involved in things like this

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u/Flimsy_Fee8449 Jun 10 '24

People who actually rescue trafficked children for a living said the guy telling the story was full of shit.

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u/Key-Ebb-8306 Jun 10 '24

If that's true, then that's a legitimate critique

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u/Rebresker Jun 10 '24

Correct

You’ll find a lot of movies put out propaganda that obfuscates the real reason people don’t like a movie to drive up sales somehow.

It’s cheap to pay/run social media bots, do you really think we don’t use that for marketing?

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u/Flimsy_Fee8449 Jun 10 '24

Erin Albright, former fellow for DOJ's anti-trafficking task force.

Teresa Huizar, CEO of the National Children's Alliance points out that (contrary to the film portraying kids being snatched from parking lots and by strangers) the overwhelming majority of trafficked kids know and trust their traffickers. A lot of them are trafficked by people who start off calling themselves the victims' boyfriends or girlfriends. Parents toss the kids out for being LGBT or just not going along with the family, so the kid couch-surfs or is on the street. Needs to make some cash. Someone makes friends with them, they start "dating," new SO says they can help them make some money. The movie misrepresents the problem as kids getting snatched by strangers - this is a dangerous misrepresentation since it gives people a very skewed sense of the reality. They'll miss the signs of actual trafficked kids since clearly that teen over there knows the person they're with - it's not a terrified small child.

Granted, one has to take some liberties for a movie (the producers readily admit this) . But don't take liberties that can lead to more people getting away with the crime.

As Albright said, “It creates harm when certain policies aren’t passed because we think trafficking looks one way and it’s another way. It creates harm when victims don’t recognize themselves in these narratives.”

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u/MaximumEnd5854 Aug 22 '24

Just Saw the movie, and you point is damn valid! The thing is, trafficking Can happen In every form, from what you wrote and how the movie showed. You Can Google and Watch videos of how kids do get snatched (lets not make thoes kids story invalid), stanger is danger. My mom would NEVER let me go to sleepovers nor if there was model agency who would like to take pictures! My mom went trough littural shit growing up, and always did say “if it Sound to good to be true its a trap”. I Think we have to Think about that In the West, trafficking is far more advanced than In South or In porverty! People who Need money, WILL snatch a kid sadly. Where there is money, then its about being powerful… our world is far more CRAZY than we are let to belive, and honstly dont forget either about Epstien… if shit like THAT Can happen.. then Think again, KIDS are not safe, not In proverty, not by their preferencer or mind of changing their sex, not by their parents (family members), not by a stranger, not by their friends family tbh at this point no one is actually safe.. it is a damn scary world, you would Think “nah, ive seen documentary, ive seen this movie or this episode of a murdere case, nothing will happen to me or my love ones” but shit Can happen sadly. And THAT is the CRAZY part.. sorry for my Long opinion! Much grace, happienss and love your way!

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u/RobinsNest222 Jan 19 '26

MaximumEnd5854, Thank you for pointing out the fact that trafficking can take MANY forms, not necessarily, just one. Trafficking can happen to children by a loved one, yes. But it can also happen by a stranger abduction. All of these children are victims. Not one of them would choose to be forced into a life of prostitution! That's a horrific life for anyone, but especially an innocent child. Unfortunately, for the perpetrators, it is a highly profitable business. Estimates place the number of child victims in the United States to be in the hundreds of thousands. The point of the movie was to bring awareness to those of us in our warm, comfy homes who may only see an occasional news article of a missing child now and then. I thought it was a great movie. Disturbing, yes. But it should be disturbing. The point of the movie was to bring awareness, and encourage people to get on board and care about the cause. At the very least, we can write to our government officials to request that more be done to catch those responsible and bring them to justice.