JEWISH WORLD

JEWISH WORLD • AUGUST 11-17, 2023 9 it in third place during the month in box-office receipts, trailing only the massively promoted “Barbie” ($351 million) and “Oppenheimer” ($174 million), and actually sound- ly beating two other major studio releases—the latest editions of the By JONATHAN TOBIN S ound of Freedom” is the film that the chattering classes are encouraging you not to see. NPR says its success is due to support from the shadowy QAnon extremist group. It’s been blasted by The Guardian as “QA- non adjacent” and was linked to blood libels and conspiracy theo- ries by a JTA article. A CNN seg- ment labeled it as a crude and fraudulent piece of agitprop that is the product of a “moral panic.” It’s the kind of movie that enlightened and educated people are supposed to avoid at all costs. And yet, somehow in this season of Hollywood blockbusters, it is “Sound of Freedom”—a movie shot on a slim budget five years ago and distributed by a fledgling inde- pendent studio that is largely asso- ciated with marginal religious con- tent—that is the surprise runaway PERSPECTIVE hit of the summer. Describing the exploits of real-life former Home- land Security Department agent Tim Ballard in combating the sexu- al trafficking of children, it sold $148 million in tickets at theaters since its release on July 4. That put “Mission Impossible” and “Indiana Jones” franchises, despite being shown on fewer screens than all of those films. This success of a movie that has been trashed by the corporate me- dia and whose star, actor Jim Cav- iezel, has given evidence of being an extremist, is troubling to those who clearly view it as the product of right-wing nutcases. This is a film that the entertainment estab- lishment sought to shelve and then treated with disdain. It has almost no promotional budget (especially when compared to the media blitz surrounding the “Barbenheimer” duo) and has relied almost solely on word of mouth, as well as a unique “pay it forward” system by which moviegoers are encouraged to help pay for the tickets of others to go see it. So for “Sound of Freedom” to have not merely gained an audi- ence but to have created a genuine groundswell of support from the public must say something terrible about America in 2023. Or does it? Stripped of the efforts to be- smirch the filmmakers and even its audience, it’s clear that the an- ger about the movie’s success is mainly a function of the role that politics play in contemporary popular culture. It also speaks volumes about the hypocrisy of liberals. They denounce the treat- ment of children when it can be pinned on one of their principal Those trashing ‘Sound of Freedom’ as “QAnon -adjacent” are hypocrites who show how leftist politics twists discourse about the arts. Jim Caviezel (left) plays Homeland Security Department agent Tim Ballard in ‘Sound of Freedom.’ The actor has made some patently antisemitic comments in public. Leftist Movie Madness A lm about saving children isn’t an antisemitic conspiracy continued on page 14 “ Glatt Kosher with Quality and Variety! Everything you need under 2 roofs Second Helping 3532 Johnson Ave Riverdale NY (718)548-1818 Home Made Food Glatt Shop 3540 Johnson Ave Riverdale, NY (718) 548-4855 Meat, Chicken & Groceries Your support is highly appreciated 50% off Sundays at Second Helping Sooo delicious!! UNDER New Management! Say Hello and See our Selection SecondHelpingKosher.com/order