ChurchPOP English editor Jacqueline Burkepile sat down with actor Jim Caviezel and producer Eduardo Verástegui to discuss their new film based on a true story, "Sound of Freedom."
Caviezel, who portrayed Jesus in "The Passion of the Christ," portrays Tim Ballard, a former government agent on a mission to rescue children from human trafficking.
"After rescuing a young boy from ruthless child traffickers, a federal agent learns the boy’s sister is still captive and decides to embark on a dangerous mission to save her," the film's trailer (at the end of this video) caption describes.
"With time running out, he quits his job and journeys deep into the Colombian jungle, putting his life on the line to free her from a fate worse than death."Caviezel and Verástegui tell Burkepile why this film is essential and how they believe viewers will respond.
"It's the best thing I've done since the passion of the Christ," Caviezel tells Burkepile. "It's going to lift your heart up and it will get so hot and so sweaty like the sweat and blood that Jesus sweat in the Garden of Gethsemane that you're going to want to do something and you're not going to be afraid any longer," Caviezel says.
"Our love for God's children has got to be greater than our fear of evil, just as our love for Jesus got to be greater than our fear of the cross," he adds.
Caviezel also stresses that we need true warriors to stand up for God's children. He says "enough is enough."
"You cannot do this to our children. Enough! You can't kill the babies at the first, second, third trimester. Enough killing the babies in partial birth abortions. And now, here in the state of California, they're going to kill babies up to 27 days. Now how does that save the life of the mother? Shame on us! Shame on us that we were not willing to do anything."
Verástegui concludes saying he believes the film is an "answer from God" to all the children begging God for freedom.
"God has put an army together and he's going to send the army," Verástegui stresses. "He's already done that, but I think now there will be a global army, and we are coming we are coming to save the children."
"On July 4th, Independence Day," Verástegui continues, "we are celebrating freedom, right?... We need to work really hard to bring freedom back to the children. They don't the freedom right now as we speak," Verástegui says. "Millions of children won't be able to celebrate freedom that day. Wake up."
Here's Jacqueline's full interview with Jim Caviezel and Eduardo Verástegui below:
Angel Studios also announced its "pay it forward" program, also considered their #2MillionFor2Million campaign.
Individuals may purchase movie tickets for those who may not otherwise see the film's theatrical release.
At the end of the trailer, Caviezel says the studio hopes two million people will attend opening weekend, in honor of two million children who were victims of human trafficking.
"Our goal is to inspire two million people to attend the film's opening weekend to represent the two million trafficked children around the world," Caviezel explains.
"If the ticket price is stopping you from attending, claim your free ticket at angel.com/freedom."
"Every parent, every adult, and every teenager in America should be there to see it," Caviezel continues.
"If millions of us come together today to see this film, we could propel the movement to save millions of children around the world. And you can send the message that God's children are no longer for sale."