Real Life Hero of 'Sound of Freedom', Tim Ballard, on Faith, Freedom, and Fighting One of America's Darkest Secrets

PROVO, Utah -- Tim Ballard is a hero. While the former Homeland Security agent might downplay this notion, there is no discounting his acts of valor in a 2012 human trafficking raid where he led the way in rescuing 120 children from a life of squalid darkness.

Ballard is the subject of the new movie Sound of Freedom, a film that has become the surprise hit of the summer, earning more than $40 million dollars in its first week of release, and displacing the much ballyhooed Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny as the top movie in the land on July 4th. 

The movie stars Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ) as Ballard, a former government agent turned freedom fighter who takes on a dangerous mission to save dozens of children sold into slavery.

I recently sat down with the real-life Ballard to discuss what fueled him to follow through on such a dangerous mission, his thoughts on having his favorite actor portray him onscreen, and why it is so important to talk about Sound of Freedom after seeing it.

This film has been a long time in the making. It goes back to your experiences many, many years ago as a Homeland Security agent. Why is right now the right time for this movie to be released?

That’s a great question and all I can say is it's God's timing because this film was supposed to come out in 2020, but I can tell you as it's coming out now, I couldn't have picked a better time for it. Things are happening now in the world to help. When they started this film, they didn't even know that anyone would watch it because people didn't even know at the time what it was. I remember hearing director (Alejandro Monteverde) talk about what we are doing now that people are hearing about it. We have a problem on our southern border where 85,000 children, some thousands of them under five years old, have arrived unaccompanied and are just allowed into a country that has the highest rate of consumer sex and child rape videos in the world. This is an economy of evil. And so, the film depicts a real operation that kicks off at the southern border of the United States. That’s the connection I want people to see, and the timing is now for them to see it.

From your perspective, what was it about what you were doing that became a trigger point for you where you felt I have got to have this story told.? What was that moment for you?

Honestly, I never dreamed there would be something like this. I always knew that telling stories was important, because that's why we filmed our operations. You're going to see some footage at the end of the film of the actual rescue that was depicted in the film. It wasn't actually my idea. I never thought to pursue that. The producers came to me and said, ‘Hey, we're watching you. Would you consider being part of a feature film? And I thought, wow! I didn't think that big, but that could be really good for the cause. Of course.

Tim, I find you to be incredibly brave, strong, and courageous for what you did and continue to be by being an advocate for this. Going back to the beginning, what fueled you to follow through on this mission that we see in the movie?

Something had been building up during my 12-year career as an undercover special agent, operating for the U.S. government. The laws changed in 2006, which allowed us for the first time to go overseas and if we could catch Americans hurting these kids, we could hold them accountable as if they had committed that crime in the United States. But they didn't realize it was going to be torturous for me if I couldn't find the American in the week or week and a half allotted to me. But I'd always see the kids. Finally in 2012, when this Colombia opportunity came up, I said, I can't come home. I can't do it anymore. Even when I wanted to, my wife wouldn't let me. She said, “You have to finish this.” So, that is what drove me. It was almost like the climax but not the end. In some ways it was the beginning, but it was kind of the end of a long rope of I'm going to actually save kids now. I'm not going to come home. And also what drove me was, I wanted to keep doing this but if I'm not successful here, no one will support me in the future. I'm now private. So, there's another incentive. If there's other kids out there, this one has to be successful and I have to go the distance.

Well-known actor Jim Caviezel plays you in this movie. How does that make you feel? I know it's about the cause, it's about the message and creating a higher level awareness about human trafficking, but what is the feeling of seeing someone playing you on the big screen and having your story told?

It's very surreal, especially since my favorite actor plays me. Before I even knew him, they (movie producers) asked me who I would choose if I could pick, and I said, Jim Caviezel, because The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favorite movies. Faith is so important to me. I knew this wasn't a faith film, so they weren't going to be overt about anything. But I knew that I wanted someone that loved Jesus to play me because that love I have is what sustains me in the (human trafficking prevention) operations. So, Jim was the right choice, and I think anyone who watches this film will decide that that's at least one decision I got right.

As I have been doing interviews for this movie, I keep hearing a recurring word over and over again and that is “to create awareness.” I guess that's a phrase, not a word, “to create awareness.” What does that look like in practical terms?

I've heard director Alejandro Monteverde say several times over the last couple weeks that he designed this movie so that it would actually begin when people leave the theater. That this topic is not something they can easily dismiss. That they will wake up the next morning and be thinking about it. Hopefully, that will drive them to say, ‘I’ve got to do something about it. I’ve got to do something.’ That's how Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin. She saw it in real life slavery in her day. And she said, “I’ve got to do something about it.” And eventually she did and changed the world. So, we want everyone to have that experience.

This is a big broad question but I need to ask it. Do you ever see a day when human trafficking will be eradicated or at least greatly diminished?

I would like to think so. I like to admit that goal. I don’t think it will be totally gone until Jesus comes back. But I look forward to that day. I'm worried about the culture wars happening in America right now over children, and I sometimes wonder if I'll be out of a job, not because we ended it right, but because the laws that need to protect children will decay and maybe even erode and disappear. So that's a new battlefront we're facing now.

I heard some say this recently in regard to this movie and it’s worth repeating. And that is, there are many good people in this world who know about this darkness but are doing nothing about it. Why do you think that is? 

I think it's scary. I get that it's hard to look at. We tend to superimpose our own children or children we know and love them instead. If you see it in footage or even depicted in a movie, it's easier to just pretend it's not happening. It hurts. People have to shed innocence and go through pain. If you want to help children in this world of human trafficking we just ask people to do it. It hurts but it's worth it.

When people see this movie, after people leave the theater, what would you like to see them take away from that experience? What's your greatest hope for Sound of Freedom?

My greatest hope right now is to keep people coming to see this film. I mentioned this earlier but it’s worth repeating. Again, Alejandro Monteverde says this. He seeks to make films that begin when you leave the theater. And that's this film. You can't forget it very easily. You wake up the next morning and you're still thinking about it. Three days later you're still thinking about it. So, I want to get people to have that experience. And then, I'm working behind the scenes right now on promoting several different avenues where people can get directly involved. I'm creating a coalition of many different anti-trafficking organizations that can all benefit from this.

Sound of Freedom is now playing in theaters nationwide.

WATCH A TRAILER FOR SOUND OF FREEDOM: