Human Life Has a Price

 

Rexhina Ziti

                                                            Human Life has a Price?

            Imagine your daughter becomes a sex slave in a country that she has never been in. Your daughter kidnapped in a foreign country and you can go nowhere for help. You could be a mother who thinks she found the love of her life and then she finds out she was sold as a sex slave in a different country. The movie Human Trafficking shows the horror of the lives of women who are caught in the hands of soulless trafficking leaders. The director Christian Duguay shows the people the lives of many women who find out that they made the wrong decision. The movie begins by an intense scene showing how a young girl younger then 18 years old was locked in a room with a man three times her age and weight, you see her disgusted and she throws herself out the window instead of having sex with the man. The director tried to make the point of showing that death is better then what the girl was dealing with. That is where the movie picks up the character Nadia, and 18 year old girl who heard about a modeling career, and she wanted to take it knowing she and her father did not have much money. Little did the girl, Nadia, know that the boss of the modeling agency, Sergei Karpovich played by Robert Carlyle, who was excellent for the part, by the way, was going to be the one that takes her humanity? Director wants to show that poor girls are more likely to get trafficked that is where I think me makes the mistake, because many girls form all over get trafficked not only poor but also careless ones.

The scene then movies to a mother named Helena, who has a young daughter about the age of 9, and she finds a man she thinks she love. He promises her a better life in America. He brings her here and sells her for money as a sex slaves, having sex with at least 30 men a day, locked in a brothel, living with other women of the same fate. Helena becomes close with Nadia. Nadia thinks of her like a mother, when she never had. Helen can not run away when she has chances because the fear of her daughter might get killed which Karpovich guaranteed. The character Helena shows a lot of heart even though she has endured what most people can not even imagine mainly because she still thinks one day she is going to see her daughter. Helena shows us the motherly love she has throughout the movie when she thinks about her daughter and when she tries the best she can under the circumstance to protect Nadia. A part in the movie trhe director is foreshadowing Helena’s character when he is giving the character Helena a dream that she sees her daughter but then can not anymore.

            Now the director makes you think twice about going on vacation on a place where you know nothing about. Duguay puts an image to your head of the worst nightmare a mother could have which is your daughter kidnapped. “Mother will I ever be like you”, is the last thing she says. The character of the little girl Annie is played by Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse, in which the part was made for her. The acting in the movie was very powerful by a 14 year old girl at the time. The part where Annie is trying to help the Philippines girl who is sick; the producer shows how even young children come together to help each other. Duguay tried to show how these three people’s humanity could not be taken away even though the focus in human traffickers is to take it away.

            Mira Sorvino who played the NYPD who tried to catch people like Karpovich was  good acting.  If they could have found someone better to do the part because every time we see the movie Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion we always think of the stupid blond, high school girl. Here she plays a high school girl in love with her high school crush. Sorvino shows that she could play both parts but the hard thing is to try to look at Sorvino in a different light then the movie Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion. Sorvino’s character goes undercover for the cops, where she is caught by Karpovich. Another agent is Donald Sutherland who plays an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. He too throughout the films tries to reveal who is behind this multi-billion dollar organization. Donald has played many movies in all which he has played very well; he has played in a classic Pride and Prejudice or in a humor drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in both movies where he has done his character well. A great choice Duguay picked for the part.

            Trade is another movie with the same meaning behind it. You have young girls lied to then they are sold into sex slaves. Director Christian Duguay shows the viewers all the hardships they endure in these brothels, he shows the details of how they were treated, not only were they forced to have sex with all these men but they were beaten all the time. Duguay points out a few times that the best solution these girls have is to kill themselves, because they have lost all faith and trust and hope. Duguay makes a good story throughout the whole movie, until he gets to the end.

            The movie was a very long but not a boring long, but since it was long the ending should have gone with that as well. The ending was cut a little short. It seemed as the director ran out of ideas to put in the movie and if that is the case then it showed. Yes there was chasing throughout the movie but there should been a little more chasing toward the end. Even though I do not want to spoil the ending I just want to say that Sorvino played a really good role toward the end because she acted stupid and clueless like many think of her to play. The whole Russian sweet girl act was nice, but not many would fall for it. There was too much life in her face to be a young sweet girl you could see she was in her late 20s or early 30s. There could have been another way to have ended the movie.

            Most of the scenes in the movie were interesting, one scene which could have been cut out and not have waste time was a scene when Kate goes and follows Sergei to a show set in the street. The fact that no one sees her and the fact that Sergei is very careful that he is never caught, and the fact that he uses he lawyer to get one of the girls that is seen as a prostitute, either shows a error to the character or error to the producer. There was no meaning for the scene. A scene that connected will with the theme of the movie is when Kate tells Helena that when she was young she was raped; the producer showed the viewers the reason why Kate is so determined to find the person behind this. Duguay connects both worlds together.

            A specific scene in the movie where it was very disturbing was when the girls were to attend a party and Helena showed no emotion on to what was going on around her. Another part was when Nadia’s father sees his daughter and he does not act as strong as a father should have. If it was my father he would have hurt anyone that he could have gotten his hands on. A clip that was unnecessary was when the girl in Philippines calls her mother and then her mother hears the kidnapper talk and she starts to yell. Why would she yell when she knew that the man would hear her and might even kill the daughter? That just showed the stupidity of a mother when she has no other choice on what to do. Duguay shows human errors in tough times

            The movie was educational mostly seen for informational purpose. The movie was good other then the ending was too short, you could see the as ending short and sweet, most of the characters end up getting help. When Nadia get her earrings from her father a she was shaking the producer tries to show how she was traumatized by the event. A person could be strong but they could get hurt. This remained me a little of the movie Man of Fire. Denzel Washington gets killed at the end and he as the one that tries to help the little girl who in a way he treats like his girl. In Human Trafficking, Helen is like a mother to Nadia and a way she tries to protect her and she had the same fate as Denzel in the movie.  The movies also have something in common in that they both are about money. Both producers of the movie show that money makes people do so many things such as hurting people.

            Human Trafficking makes you think about how comfortable you are in your house and how safe you are that they only time you hear or see this is in your living room TV. Duguay makes a good lifetime movie in educating people in something that could affect you and you do not even know it, and the matter of fact this slavery is happing under our noises and we do not even realize it. It could happen right down the block, it could happen to that sad girl you see walking around, and Duguay makes you realize that in very graphic detail. Human Trafficking, is one of those movies that you will recommend people to see, it is one of those movies even though you see fault with it, you can never forget. It is a movie that at one time it could depict a persons life. Duguay makes a movie out of the real problems people have in this world, and he does it well.

 

 

            Cited Works

Human Trafficking. Dir. Christian Duguay. Perf. Mira Sorvino, Donald Sutherland. DVD 2005

Human Trafficking 7 May 2008  http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2611188224/tt0461872