Russel chats to Jim Caviezel and former Homeland security agent and activist, Tim Ballard about the most controversial movie right now, 'Sound of Freedom', which highlights the harrowing world of child trafficking and Ballard's real-life quest to combat it.Jim and Tim tackle the film's reception in mainstream media, its perceived controversy, the vital conversation it ignites around human rights and the cost of truth.WATCH the Full Interview on RUMBLE: https://bit.ly/3XPr4Vc For a bit more from us join our Stay Free Community here: https://russellbrand.locals.com/NEW MERCH! https://stuff.russellbrand.com/
Thanks for joining us on the channel that some are calling the best independent news network on planet Earth.
Wow.
That's what some people are saying.
Who are those people?
Me.
Yep.
Your mum.
Her, she's with children.
I can't pronounce it, but they're aiming to say stuff like that.
Now we are being joined by an actor who is not only pretended to be actual Jesus in Passion of the Christ.
Do you remember going to see Passion of the Christ?
Yeah.
I went and saw it.
Very good indeed.
When I saw it, something went wrong in the cinema and I had to go and turn the lights on at the back, which isn't normal.
What?
I saw it in Camden.
I went to see Passion of the Christ.
It was much more intense than I thought it was going to be.
I don't know why I didn't think that the Passion of the Christ would be intense.
I mean, I know what Jesus went through.
Yeah.
The crucifixion, the passion, the lashing, the abuse.
The name calling.
All just to name a few of the trials of our Lord.
Something went wrong in the cinema and I had to turn the light on and I remember being most proud when I said let there be light before I turned the light on.
Very good.
You feel a little bit like in that moment you slightly became Jesus?
I was trying to imply that to the cinema goers of Camden, Camden North London of course, but they didn't come with me on that journey at all.
They were much more Jesus is the embodiment of the unknowable and nuministic entity that we call God.
He is the potential for all of us to transform and become loving and awakened souls.
And if you want someone who's not Jesus to be Jesus, Get Jim Caviezel.
Jim's starring in Sound of Freedom, a new film based on the true story of a U.S.
homeland security agent rescuing children from human traffickers in South America.
We're right interested in it.
Primarily I'm interested, of course the subject matter is fascinating, but it's a film that's been made in a different way.
It's been funded in a new way, it's been promoted in a new way, and it's had extraordinary mainstream media pushback and some extraordinary Accusations about the motivations of the film and the audience of the film have been made.
So all of this is stuff that I'm excited to cover with both Jim Caviezel and Tim Ballard, who Jim plays in the movie, who'll be joining us a little later.
Jim, are you there?
I am.
What's your motivation in making this film, Jim?
Is it that you were compelled by the story?
Compelled by the issue?
I'm assuming you're Christian, Jim.
Was your own Christianity a factor?
And do you think it's a particularly Christian story?
Well, if you want to go to the biblical story, no greater love have you than give your life for another.
No greater love.
And, you know, I came into depth of that when I was doing the Passion of the Christ.
I was electrocuted.
I had my shoulder dislocated.
I had two heart surgeries, including open heart.
I had hypothermia and it infected my lungs.
And for about 10 years after that, I struggled.
And I wanted to show people a level of Christ that people would feel like they would have an encounter.
So I asked God to play me.
And that was the difference maker in that film.
In the same way in Sound of Freedom, when I met Tim, And what he had been through he has it's that's also a biblical story where you would sell everything you have for that one pearl that Jesus speaks about.
And I've you know had the none of the things that can fill you in your heart in this world they it's it's not I felt like This was my service as an actor to help people out and bring them to God.
My involvement in this film, I have three children, all adopted.
I became very well aware of nefarious activities even in the orphanages and things around the world and the dangers that children undergo.
And so I feel like I would, in a heartbeat, give my life for my family or my children and felt that the dangers that they're going to undergo now, and especially within the media that is not giving the truth of what's happening or ignoring it, that I felt that this might be able to do something.
And Tim, who's an incredibly special human being, sought me out for this because he saw The Passion, and he saw The Count of Monte Cristo, and those were two films he liked.
And I didn't think, you know, being an actor when I was younger, that this is where I was going to end up.
But there was something there that was Um, you know, doing The Passion was like climbing Mount Everest on the hardest side of the mountain.
And, uh, you know, um, I used to do comedies, Russell.
Did you know that?
Seems like a stretch today, mate.
Sounds like you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders.
Like, Jim, obviously you're an actor that takes your work incredibly seriously, as all great actors do.
perhaps that's one of the ways that I've suffered in that industry.
What we'll do, I know that Tim's ready to join us now, but we'll have a look at the trailer for Sound of Freedom,
and then Tim Ballard, upon whose story the film is based, will be joining us, and we'll be continuing to talk about
Jim as well.
You can join us on Locals by pressing the red button.
People are saying these are lovely people.
That's Primal Colin.
This is an important story that needs to be told.
People have seen the film and think it's amazing.
If you'd seen the film, you'd understand the heaviness, says Rogue Nation.
And of course, I've spoken to people involved in this production, and I realize it's an extremely serious subject.
We're going to be joined by Tim just after the trailer.
Let's have a look at the trailer now.
This is the fastest growing international crime network that the world has ever seen.
It has already passed the illegal arms trade.
And soon it's gonna pass the drug trade.
Because you can sell a bag of cocaine one time to the child five to ten times a day.
God's children are not for sale.
How long you been doing this?
12 years now.
How many pedophiles you got?
288.
How many kids you found?
We are now joined by Tim Ballard upon who the movie is based.
Tim, thank you so much for joining us to talk about Sound of Freedom.
How are you today, mate?
I'm doing great, Russell.
Thanks for having me on your show.
Thank you so much.
It's an honour to have you.
We learned, I personally learned about this film when a friend of mine told me about it a couple of months ago.
He told me about the significance of the story.
He told me about his personal involvement.
he'd met you and he knows about the Railroad project and he was incredibly excited and honoured to be involved.
I'll just make sure that I won't publicly say who it is because I'm not sure if I'm supposed to, but...
So I've known about your film for a little while.
Tim, you're clearly a man who's inspired some very strong feelings,
you're clearly a vocational and devoted man, and it's plain that only a person that has direct
experience of playing our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ would be fit for the job.
So that's fantastic casting right off the bat there.
We're getting Jim Caviezel on board.
Can you tell me a little bit about the process of getting this film made?
Tim, tell us how you've come to be in this position and as well touch on stuff and why you believe it's so important that people see Sound of Freedom.
Yeah, great.
So I spent 12 years as a special agent, undercover operator, and I would get deeper and deeper as the years went on, trying to find the root of the problem.
Eventually started getting overseas and started doing overseas operations.
And in 2012, 2013, I was working a case in Colombia, got further than I was supposed to get, and they said, come home.
And I said, I can't.
I've made myself the bait.
I've gone too deep.
And they said, well, then you have to quit your job if you want to continue the operation.
And I did.
It was a very difficult decision.
And we went ahead, and my wife and I decided to quit.
And we finished the operation as, you know, private citizens, if you will.
And the operation was enormous.
It ended on October 11, 2014.
The biggest operation, the biggest rescue operation that I think I've ever heard of.
There was over 120 women and children rescued, 15 traffickers arrested.
And the mainstream media in the United States, back when they Everybody thought it was still good to say child trafficking is bad.
They reported.
It's the craziest thing.
It was all over the news.
Everyone was like, yay, we're helping kids.
And one of the producers, Eduardo Verastegui, Alejandro Monteverde, saw that clip of the mainstream media, and that's how they found me, ironically, through the mainstream media, and said, let's make a movie out of this.
Nine years later, The same mainstream media is acting like, well, I don't think it really happened.
It's the most bizarre twist of events.
But that's how it got started.
And they came to me and said, who do you want to play you in the film?
And right out of the gate, I said, Jim Caviezel.
Hands down, Jim Caviezel.
And at first, they said they love Jim as an actor, but they wanted someone that looks a little bit like me because they had written into the script kind of this transitional thing at the end where they show real footage.
And I said, I don't care.
Look, I'm not a big fan of what Hollywood produces.
I think that some of the stuff that's produced there is the reason we have a demand for child sex in the United States.
And I know Jim is in, but not of, Hollywood.
He loves Jesus.
I love Jesus.
And that's it.
And they said, OK, we'll move forward with Jim.
And they know they made the right decision.
I'm trying to think who else could have done it.
I mean, you gotta have Jim Caviezel.
When he flashes that smile, you're in all sorts of trouble.
I'm trying to think of what other casting direction you could have gone in there to tell you the truth, Tim.
Now, like, of course, yeah, I'm old enough to remember when child sex trafficking was universally condemned.
I'm also old enough to remember that when people used to speak about networks of child sex stuff, that it was sort of regarded as a conspiracy theory, then
there were some high-profile stories in our country that suggested that there was more truth to
it than people had dared to imagine, because it's such a horrific thing for most of us even to
contemplate that. Then of course in recent years we've had the Epstein story, which makes it
yet more palpable that there appears to be a connection between these most nefarious and, let's
say, sort of ghouling and ghoulish activities and the activities of powerful people. And now
having spoken to both of you for a few minutes it becomes pretty plain why certain aspects of the
media are not willing to promote this film.
One I think is because it's an economic model that's outside of their control.
It's a promo model that's outside of their control.
And it's plain that from just from your most recent answer, Tim, that you believe there's a connection between this type of activity and powerful institutions, shall we say.
So evidently there is, you know, now it makes more sense.
But what I'd read up to now is that they were saying it's connected to Groups like QAnon and conspiracy theories, but one of the things I've learned over the last few years And I'm certainly not saying I believe I don't believe in anything until this proof I just can't be bothered with the arguments But certainly the last few years have shown me that things that start off as conspiracy theories end up being verified And I pray to God that this is not something that require that gets further verification Tim I want to say mate that obviously you've gone into areas that most people aren't willing to
Confront.
Most everybody of course is opposed to exploitation and violence or right-minded sane and awakened people of course, but most of us haven't experienced the jagged end of this type of cruelty.
It seems that Jim has, it's been difficult for Jim just sort of playing you and going through the process of promoting this film What kind of burden and scars are you carrying?
Or do you feel enriched and empowered by the success of the work more than you feel traumatized by the dark side of it?
It's a mixed bag.
You know, it depends on the day.
I have a million holes in my brain.
You can't watch thousands of hours of small children being sexually assaulted without having some pretty serious damage.
Again, there's a reason I asked Jim to play me.
Because that spiritual side is the only place I have found healing.
You know, a really cool story.
Jim didn't know this.
He ad-libbed my favorite line into the movie.
He didn't know that was my line for life, my line for my operations.
When I'm going into dark places, such that you see depicted in the film, there's a line from the scripture I read to myself over and over again.
It's where Jesus stands on little children.
It's the only time perhaps in the Bible where he truly gets violent, even mafioso violent, in his language because he says, I think we kind of pass by this too quickly sometimes when we read the Bible, he says that it's better that a millstone be hung about your neck and you tossed to the bottom of the sea than that you should hurt one of these little children.
I mean, that is, it's Jesus, so it's righteous, but it's also mafioso.
It's like cement shoes kind of stuff.
Right?
Like, this is what the mafia does to people when they cross them.
Well, this is what Jesus is going to do to you if you cross these little children.
That was important to me because I say to myself when I'm going into dark places, I'm scared.
Don't get me.
You're going to watch that movie and think I'm some brave guy.
I'm no braver than the next guy.
I'm scared to death going into these undercover situations where my life's on the line.
But I say to myself, Jesus is violently on my side.
And that means I can have faith That I can be violently on his side, and we're gonna be okay.
And so, in the movie, there's a scene, it's a real scene in a cafe where we arrest this pedophile.
In the film, his name is Oshensky.
And Jim leans over and ad-libs a line that's not in the script.
And he didn't know this was my go-to line.
He looks at the pedophile moments before he's about to be arrested, and he says to him, Better than a millstone be hung about your neck and you tossed to the bottom of the sea, than you should hurt one of these little ones.
And the actor, who did a phenomenal job, he didn't know what to do because, I mean, Jim's ad-libbing this line, and it seems out of context for a millisecond, and then two seconds later you realize what Jim's doing.
You realize what the actor, Jim, is doing, trying to depict me sending a message to this sick, sick person before he goes down.
And That is why Jim Caviezel had to play me.
Because that's, to answer your question, that's how I heal.
I only heal.
I heal during the operation.
During the dark moments, I've already begun my process of healing because I bring Jesus and all that Jesus brings and redemptive power from the get-go.
So both of you are able to endure these experiences and render them through your connection to a gangster Christ.
Christ that's willing to take it to the dark places.
This is not the Jesus peacefully with the lamb This is the Jesus with the moneylenders.
This is the Jesus with the millstones.
So, like, that's pretty serendipitous and synchronous, Jim, that you were able to come up with that line.
It's pretty plain that your Christianity directs you as an actor and as a man.
How did you bring that to bear on this part, and in particular in that scene?
Well, if you go back to the Passion of the Christ, Our makeup artists, Christian Tinsley and Keith Vanderlyn, they were showing, Mel Gibson was showing the Shroud of Turin and it had, when they showed it and put it up on a kind of light that could come through it, you could see all of the track lines in it.
The Cat O' Nine Tails, the whips they used on him, and immediately both of them believed that this was real.
And then I said, why are you making such a big deal of it?
And they said, well, look at his face.
There's such a piece to it.
And then they pulled, I said, I don't understand.
And they pulled this out and you see this picture, this That this is how all of the bodies they use from people that have been decapitated murdered or anything and the way that they when a person dies the face is frozen in that horrible look and you see the face of Jesus on that you see Does this look like a criminal now?
when I was doing the so I I the I The work that I was going to do on this, I had to go to those depths because when people watch it in the theater, they're having a personal experience with something internal inside of them.
And there was no different than when I was with Tim and I had to go to the places.
So I met with Tim originally and then he was busy.
I went over to Utah and got to see his whole place where he works and his men and everything.
And then I went to other agents that I've known for many years that I went through and started researching all of this stuff.
And you couldn't look at this stuff without having some protection in your soul.
But what drove me more than anything was my own children and possibly losing them.
And so that weaponized me.
That made me the, obviously, as you say, the Jesus that was going to be a bit of a thumper
in this one.
And so I was, you know, it's, I, even thinking about it right now, it just, I think the children
and seeing that it's different than an adult watching something that's older, but it relates
to Jesus because he was the most innocent there ever was.
And the children are the closest to that.
Yes, I've heard it argued that what we're saying about the radiance that comes through the innocent is because they're not fully materialized, fully alloyed to the material world, you can experience God consciousness more through the young, through youth, even with cute young animals.
There is a sense that the pure original condition can be experienced more before we Go through the various trials and conditioning that takes place that delivers us into adulthood and often the state of dull conformity that that renders.
True Nature's Child says, Jesus the big G. Ian Driamo says, Jim is actually looking a lot more like Tim in this interview than I've ever seen him before too.
Didn't recognize him in first, so doing a good job On that front too.
Carolyn Joy says, do they think enough is being done by governments and law enforcement to track down the perpetrators of crimes of this nature and prevent future crimes from happening?
What do you think, Tim Bard?
Oh, Jim's straight in there.
Jim ain't mucking about.
It's a hard answer from Jim.
Go on then, guys.
Let me know what you're thinking.
Well, let me tell you what's... No, not at all.
I mean, first, start with a basic fact.
There's about five drug agents in the United States government, for every one anti-child trafficking agent.
But it goes much deeper than that.
An awareness, by the way, in a republic, theoretically, when the people get loud, we'll see those numbers shift.
Tim, Jim, I really appreciate both of you for this devout and serious undertaking.
I can see that it's put both of you under incredible strain and I'm really very grateful to you for the work you're doing and that you are obviously continuing to do and for your level of commitment.
Thanks for getting up early and joining us.
I really appreciate it.
Thanks, Russell.
Take care, Jim.
Take care, Tim.
Thank you very much for your time.
On the show tomorrow, I'm going to be joined by The Critical Drinker, a very popular and successful YouTuber who shares honest and hilarious critiques of movies.
Have you seen him yet?
Go away now!
It's absolutely extraordinary.
Let's have a look at him right now.
Thanks for having me on, man.
I can't believe it.
I'm sandwiched right between Tucker Carlson and Ron DeSantis.
I've got a lot to live up to on this one.
You better come up with some pretty powerful right-wing ideology right now!
You surely love the critical drinker.
A man who has analyzed and critiqued contemporary cinema with a perspective that you're unlikely to see in the mainstream.
I think we are definitely stuck in a rut as a culture when it comes to just relying on the past.
As you say, the motivation behind these IPs and these franchise movies is no one's willing to take a risk.
What they lack with these modern characters that they try to do is that they're not willing to take that step of have them fail and be vulnerable and have flaws and weaknesses.
We're going to talk about Sound of Freedom.
Why is this movie causing so much controversy?
I'm also going to start referring to the Critical Drinker by his actual human name, and I'm going to ask you to remove them aviators.
Not yet!
Not while we're still on YouTube!
So there you go, that's our show tomorrow.
To join our locals community, just press the red button at the bottom of your screen now.
You also get first access to interviews like Oliver Stone and Rhonda Santis next week.
We do meditations the whole time, loads of stuff about events.
We've got a fantastic week for you next week.
Join us tomorrow for The Critical Drinker, not for more of the same, oh no, we wouldn't insult you with that, but for more of the different.
