einohautala
The 2005 made for TV movie, Human Trafficking – featuring Mira Sorvino (now a United Nations good will ambassador for human trafficking, she appeared in the BBC World Debate on human trafficking last fall) and Donald Sutherland – is a fictional story that follows three young women who become involved in an international sex trafficking ring lead by one Sergei Karpovich. In New York City, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents – including Chief Bill Meehan (Sutherland) and Kate Morozov (Sorvino) – work to oust the trafficking ring. While the story itself is fictionalized, the themes and much of the experiences of the people involved are very real.Helena, a single mother in Prague, Czech Republic, is attracted to a handsome young man, Peter (this name needs verification) and travels to Vienna, Austria for a weekend with him. Once in Vienna, Peter brings Helena to a staging house where he takes her passport and sells her to Karpovich. Karpovich's accomplices transport Helena and a group of other trafficked women to New York City where they're kept at one of his "houses" and prostituted. Helena is coerced into submission when her captors threaten her young daughter, Ivanka's life, having shown surveillance pictures of Ivanka and her caretaker back in Prague. Helena is eventually rescued when ICE agents, including Morozov, raid one of Karpovich's houses. After ICE secures Ivanka, Helena reluctantly agrees to help Morozov catch Karpovich, by telling her everything she knew about him and agreeing to testify in court. Karpovich coerces an attorney to attempt to have Helena released from police custody (so Karpovich could have her killed). Helena is placed under protective custody, and arrangements are made to bring Ivanka and the caretaker to the U.S. Helena is shot and killed by a sniper monitoring the safe house where she had been placed.Nadia, a sixteen-year old in Kiev, Ukraine, responds to a modeling agency's offer for international modeling jobs. When she is selected, she runs away from her father and travels with the agency to the United States with other selected young women. Once in New York City, Nadia's passport is taken from her and she is taken with the same group of women as Helena. Nadia repeatedly tries to escape, but is caught and punished each time. She attempts suicide but does not carry it out. Back in Ukraine, her father, Viktor – a former member of the military – learns about the modeling agency and manages to get hired by Karpovich. He works as a low-level trafficker, bringing a young girl into Mexico and later into the U.S. as he searches for Nadia. Eventually he finds Nadia and after Morozov participates in an undercover operation that leads ICE to Karpovich himself and the house where Nadia and Viktor are, Karpovich is killed and the women are rescued.Annie Grey, a twelve-year old American tourist, is abducted while in Manila, Philippines with her parents. She is taken to a brothel where men from around the world, including the U.S., travel on "sex tourism" trips. Annie and a group of other children are kept in a filthy room when they aren't with clients. As international attention begins to crack down on Manila, searching for Annie, her captors make arrangements to transport the children to the United Arab Emirates (this destination needs verification). They're drugged and concealed in a cargo container behind stacks of rice. One of the brothel owner's accomplices regrets what he helped do to the children and calls in a tip that leads police officials in Manila to the shipyard before the cargo container is shipped. The children, including Annie, are rescued.There are different ways women are brought into the world of human trafficking, and the cases in this films represents three of these archetypes: - Helena represented one archetype where an attractive young man seduces women, pretending to be a lover, and after getting her to travel away from her home region and relative security, he takes her passport and sells her into a trafficking ring. - Nadia represented another archetype where trafficking rings pose as organizations hiring young women for attractive, well paying jobs abroad, and after transporting them outside of their home region and relative security, they hold them captive and prostitute them or sell them to other trafficking rings. - Annie represented a third archetype, where young women and often children are kidnapped by either traffickers or brothel owners, sometimes as tourists, and sold/exploited.How close the stories depicted in this film mirror reality is up for argument. There is certainly some aspects that don't seem very realistic. One glaring instance is whether Nadia's father, Viktor, would be able to join Karpovich's organization and find Nadia on the other side of the world. To add insult to injury Viktor also managed to befriend ICE's Morozov; so when Karpovich was ultimately ousted, Viktor wasn't charged with the rest of Karpovich's accomplices.Taking the "Hollywood" fabrication aspect into consideration – one of the main reasons films such as this cannot be used as primary sources – the film still offers a visual depiction into how devastating is the world of human trafficking.After watching this film, which I highly recommend or I wouldn't have bothered to feature it, I wonder how many Helenas and Nadias and Annies are out there? How many of them have a father who was in the Russian military and can track his daughter across the globe to rescue her? How many of them have Mira Sorvino to fight for them? How many of them have a movie ending, where they at least get some mention in their death or at best are rescued?After you take out the Hollywood in a story like this, you catch a glimpse of how vast is the criminal network behind today's human trafficking network.I would say that it's worse than any of use can imagine.
Robert W.
I have always known in the back of my mind, the issue of Human Trafficking especially from news stories about girls disappearing in the Caribbean but it wasn't until I saw this movie recently that it simply blew my mind and awoke me to something completely different. This film is made for entertainment purposes but also done in such a way that you will forever be mindful of the issue that they are putting forth in this movie. The film is disturbing and lengthy in details without being too gratuitous with the content keeping it clean enough to not capitalize on the crime but vivid enough to bring home the point in a jolting manner. The story focuses on two victims in particular but also all the other victims around them and the people who perpetrate this crime. It also focuses very much on the North America side of this trade and how close to home it can be. While the film isn't perfect and has moments you just can't believe would be the way things would happen, for the most part its one of the smartest and moving films I have seen in a long time. It will keep you on the edge of your seat.Oscar winner Mira Sorvino headlines the cast as a Government agent who becomes obsessed with the cases revolving around human trafficking. Sorvino is kind of a low point in the cast. Sometimes she does alright and other times she seems almost campy in her performance and this film is far too serious for that to happen. She looks lovely and very young in this film but doesn't give the best performance. Emmy nominated for his role in this film Donald Sutherland is the class of the cast. I honestly didn't think he showed anything truly outstanding but he does a decent job and definitely improves the cast just by being part of it. He also seems to get the most out of Sorvino's performance. Also nominated for an Emmy for this film is Robert Carlyle who plays viscous head of the trafficking crew Sergei Karpovich. Carlyle is one of the truly brilliant performances. I've seen him in roles that are the complete opposite of this and he really does scare you to the very core. He is sleazy and despicable and perfect for the villain role. Laurence Leboeuf is excellent in her disturbing role as the kidnapped and violated Nadia Tagarov who becomes something of a mother figure to the other kidnapped girls. Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse is the young American girl caught in all this. For a young actress she does a truly amazing job of showing strength and a tiny ray of hope in this horrible circumstance. Rémy Girard is Nadia's father who goes to no end to under cover and find his daughter and bring her home. He is more subtle in his performance and not quite as stand out as the girls but still a great character and a hero.Canadian director Christian Duguay had a huge project on his hands here. He had to rely on creating something watchable, entertaining but not disgusting or offensive and still get his powerful message home and he does exactly that on a TV Mini-Series budget. There are still plenty of really disturbing things happening but done in a tasteful way if that is possible. Regardless of how they did it the film makes an impact by creating those characters both bad and good that you won't soon forget and it honestly changed my life. Now I feel as though I want to involve myself in this cause and I think its something pretty spectacular when a film can make you feel that way. I encourage anyone to see this film, because it has a powerful message with some really terrific performances. 9/10 www.stophumantraffic.com/index.html
widescreenguy
not so many happy endings in the real world for starters.the resurgence of human trafficking, ie slavery, is yet another unanticipated consequence of the world wide web.those splashy headlines about the dude that had his face 'unswirled' are just the tiniest minuscule pinpoint tip of the iceberg. just enough to let some complacency slip into the equation.in the mean time like all vices, new players emerge to take the place of those taken out of action by authorities. and why is that? DEMAND. if there wasn't a demand, there would be no economic incentive to create the supply.I saw this miniseries when it was first broadcast. the tension was less 2nd time around on DVD, but still quite watchable. typically in this condensed version, there were points of gross implausibility esp. when the lead character lets the Russian get away onto the train with a great look of sincerity.800,000 per year. 2,000 per day. thats a lot of humans being trafficked. how accurate are those numbers? it could be even worse considering these things have a way of getting streamlined. the ones I hold the most contempt for are the corrupt officials who accept bribes to look the other way and tip off the masterminds when raids are about to happen.follow the money.
dgwyn
I saw it on DVD this weekend. Not an easy movie to watch. It could have been better written. Too many clichés and stereotypes. The Johns and pimps that the movie dwells on are too obvious monsters. It might have worked better if some time had been spent on some of the less reprehensible "bad" characters. Part of the problem of real slave sex trade is that the victimizers are too often average Joes and indeed Janes, such as Carlyle's female assistant. The mini-series also largely avoids the issue that some of the victims get trapped into the trade knowing they are going to become prostitutes. That is to say they know they are going to be prostitutes, they just don't realize just how horrific the conditions are going to be. As far as why the series was shot in Montreal, not New York, well, the movie business is a business after: it is cheaper to film in Montreal than New York. A scene not included on the DVD was shot a few blocks from my apartment. The train station where Sorvino lets Girard go is very likely the Montreal West AMT station. Montreal is used as location for New York City, Washington, D.C. (the brothel), Newark, and Manila (the port scenes at the end at least).
