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.
Desertman84
Human Trafficking is a television miniseries about an American Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent going undercover to stop an organization from trafficking people, and shows the struggles of four trafficked women. It stars Mira Sorvino, Donald Sutherland, Rémy Girard, and Robert Carlyle.It was directed by Christian Duguay.In the TV mini-series,four girls from across the world have been kidnapped and thrust into the terrifying world of international sex trade, and a specialized team of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are determined to bring down the global network that sponsors such heinous crimes. A former victim who has dedicated her life to protecting the innocent, ICE agent Kate Morozov braves the flesh- peddlers of Russia and endures the terror of an urban torture chamber located in the very heart of Queens in order to bring the ruthless kingpin behind these crimes to justice. When the world's most dedicated cop crosses swords with the man who drives one of the most expansive global conspiracies on the planet, the stage is set for an explosive confrontation of epic proportions.Human Trafficking is difficult to watch.Just when many people have realized that sexual slavery and verisimilitude of human life being equated to money,this TV movie shows that it is still one of the most profitable industry in the 21st century behind drugs and weapons.The viewer will definitely find it painful to watch what the women who were selected unwillingly go through in the tragedy that they face.It was a good thing that the movie avoids big action sequences and avoids the trap of trying to make it a detective story as it never loses its public message about the issue at hand.Also,special mention should be given to both Sutherland and Sorvino for their outstanding and excellent acting.I give this film a high recommendation for this powerful TV movie.
Angelus2
I bought this hoping a heroic gangster movie. I couldn't have been more wrong.Robert Carlyle plays a notorious Russian human traffickers whose network runs from America to East Asia. Mira Sorvino and Donald Sutherland play agents who are looking to bring Carlyle down from his untouchable position. There are other stories inter-wined, a thirteen year old American girl is kidnapped in the Phillapines and a father joins the human traffickers in order to rescue his daughter; this is beautifully written, directed and acted. The characters have their stories and pain to share. Carlyle is perfect as the crime boss and Sorvino brings some light into this dark world, while Doanld is superb as the ageing crime fighter. I've watched films were there are heroes depicted in the world of Human trafficking. But the truth is you can never be a hero when you sell someone for sexual gratification. Some scenes are very hard to watch, especially the rape of children; a hard hitting film which is not for the faint hearted.
Julien Huxley (julienhuxley)
This movie is a surprisingly well orchestrated little show of horrors. The movie does not bring new knowledge to the table but it reminds us, in an utmost graphic way, the most disgusting form of human exploitation: sex slaves. The movie presents the path of four different young girls to this horrible fate and it will keep your consciousness wriggling in pain knowing that as we speak, these sex crimes are being perpetrated in our cities. A scary film that will make you want to hold your children tightly by your side.The actors play is good and the performance by Remy Girard accurately pictures the suffering of a parent that has lost a child.A gruesome yet necessary exposure to the facts of our society. A definite must-see, preferably not alone.
