WASHINGTON, D.C. — “Sound of Freedom” star Jim Caviezel believes that his new film will empower people to fight human-trafficking worldwide, and perhaps even bring forward some courageous whistleblowers afraid to speak up until now.

Caviezel and his co-actor Eduardo Verástegui, rumored to be pondering a presidential bid in Mexico, shared all this and more in a June interview with The Daily Signal at The Heritage Foundation studios in Washington, D.C.

Both actors, who are Catholic and vocally pro-life, stressed the connections between sex trafficking and pornography, open borders, and abortion. They hope that the movie will shake viewers from apathy into action to aid victims of human trafficking across the globe.

“This movie has a power because it goes into your heart and it asks you a question,” Caviezel said. “When this is all done, what are you gonna do? You’re going to have to meet God at some point. And I believe it’s going to move a lot of whistleblowers to come forward.”

“That will bring an end to this whole thing,” he predicted.

“Sound of Freedom” is based on the true story of former United States government agent Tim Ballard, founder of Operation Underground Railroad, a nonprofit that fights against child sex slavery. Ballard, who worked for the CIA and then the Department of Homeland Security, has worked undercover in many different countries to fight infiltrate and combat child trafficking organizations.

According to Angel Studios, which has the licensing rights to “Sound of Freedom,” the purpose of the film is to “put a spotlight on the global movement to end the trafficking of minors by successfully distributing this film to a worldwide audience.”

The film is crowd funded: “only with the help of the people” will it be a successful project, Verástegui said.

“We are against Goliath,” Verástegui told The Daily Signal. “We are like the little David against Goliath.”

The film will be in theaters on July 4, Independence Day. Both Verástegui and Caviezel stressed the importance of this date: as Americans celebrate freedom, many children are still enslaved by human traffickers.

The ticket sales are “growing and growing and growing,” Verástegui said.

“We’re outselling ‘Indiana Jones’ right now by 25%,” Caviezel added. “It’s extraordinary. We are starting to add screens. But its really important that people go buy the tickets now.”

“July 4: can we give those kids back their freedom on our Independence Day? We have a darkness around us right now. We could lose our Republic. Are we going to let our children go?” the actor asked.

Caviezel portrayed Jesus Christ in Mel Gibson’s film, “The Passion of the Christ,” one of the most successful independent movies in history (grossing $612 million worldwide with a production budget of $30 million, according to the Catholic News Agency), and the first R-rated movie in North America to gross such a high figure.

He has said that “Sound of Freedom” is the best film he has done since “The Passion of the Christ.”

“People aren’t buying the media like they used to,” he said, as he critiqued the way mainstream media misrepresents political narratives to the American public. “The stuff that happened [with] Hunter Biden’s laptop. Two years, you told us not true. OK, I believe you, you’re the media, you know. But then it’s true. Then for seven years, we learn that Donald Trump is a Russian spy, well thank you media for telling us. Durham report drops, he’s not a Russian spy…the public is going, ‘Mmmm no. You don’t have the power you used to.’

“And its the same thing with me as an actor,” he added.

Amazon video and Netflix both passed on the film, the actors shared.

“This is not for us,” Verástegui quoted the entertainment companies saying.

Why? Neither Amazon nor Netflix responded to requests for comment from The Daily Signal. Caviezel suggested that the film’s exposé of human trafficking might have something to do with it.

“We were showing it in Vegas and there were about five screenings, 1500 people that saw it. During the five screenings, each screening, there was a ton of talking that went on,” Caviezel said. “The second time it happened, third time, talking in this one particular spot. And I’m thinking, did we do something wrong?”

“One more time it happened, at the end I was asking about the movie, and I asked about that one particular part where everyone is talking, and they all cried out, ‘Epstein Island.’ And I went, oh ok. Now, I understand what we’re up against. Epstein Island isn’t the only sex island out there, and Tim Ballard takes down one in the film,” the actor added.

“There’s many people involved in this crime in every sector,” Verástegui said. “Political sector, worldwide, here, Mexico, worldwide. It’s a global problem.”

“It’s an elite problem,” Caviezel chimed in.

“Hollywood too,” added Verástegui. “I’m not saying everyone…there’s a lot of great people there who are fighting. But the guys who are at the very top…”

Asked if there are top people Hollywood involved in these crimes that the public is unaware of, Caviezel quickly responded.

“100%,” he said.

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