I Am Jane Doe

I'm going to be honest, I didn't know about this issue, let alone this film, until it popped up on my Netflix queue. This film came as a shocker to me. Human trafficking is something that happens in third world countries, not America. The emotion is raw and the facts hit you like a freight train. It's unbelievable that our courts and our Congress have not righted this issue by now. Backpage's actions are blatantly illegal and morally indefensible.

Not only is this documentary well made, but it gets right down into the dirt. It exposes something that needed to be brought to light. "I am Jane Doe" deserves every star.

Fantastic film that opened my eyes through the horrors of Backpage.com and the child sex trafficking industry in this country. So rarely do you see a documentary this raw and honest come out with the full intention of doing good. I have seen this movie twice: once myself and a second time with my family, and it doesn't get easier. But, it does inspire me to join the fight and help in whatever way I can. To me, that is the greatest signifier of a well-made film.

I really want to give this more stars because it explores the trafficking situation really well, however, there is no explanation as to WHY the other side is fighting against allowing speech censorship on the internet. Internet freedom of speech is a dissertation unto itself- it is not a simple black/white issue. I think pretending the other side had no argument (just "greedy & evil") was an oversimplification. Some of the speakers were part of the Village Voice. I have no doubt that those journalists had informed opinions on the topic that were simply edited out of the film.

By concentrating on child sex trafficking, the film sidesteps the issue of the mass marketing of women (and young men) in general by traffickers who admit that their main tools are drug addiction and violence. That this is considered in anyway part of 'freedom' in America is nauseating. Village Voice is just one of numerous weekly urban free newspapers that get the BULK of their revenue from very expensive and extensive ads for prostitutes, S&M dungeons, sexual massage parlors etc. They throw in a few 'serious articles and listings for restaurants etc. but the 'soul' of the Village Voice and all the other such papers nationwide is PIMPING. That is the main gripe I have with this film is that they celebrate the 'venerable' liberal paper which has sunk to peddling sex for profit.

So it actually took awhile for me to get around to watching "I am Jane Doe." I missed the window where the film was in theaters and there weren't any other screenings near me. I finally got to watch it on Netflix a couple weeks ago and I'm so glad I did.

This film is eyeopening. It left me angry, heartbroken, and itching to get involved in the fight against human trafficking. The fact that this happens right under our noses, in our very neighborhoods, should enrage everyone. And the absence of justice against Backpage, even with a damning Senate report, is unbelievable.

Watch this. It's so important.