Sex Traffic

I guess we just haven't been out of our caves long enough if these depraved specimens of human kind still walk among us. Whereas I could happily watch the traffickers neck deep in an ant nest there was one aspect that seemed a little odd. The price paid for these women seemed way low considering the ROI. I am naive enough to hope for some black ops assassin squad to clean up some of these slavers and at least put some mortal fear into the rest. Shame is that, as usual, those in power are usually enmeshed in this disgusting tapestry. An excellent film that is unfortunately wasted on the likes of us. We will be appalled then dismayed to the point of tears then look for the nearest comedy.

Expectations were low when I decided to PPV this two part flick. I was blown away! This story held me enthralled enough to desperately search out part two within seconds of the end of part one.

While I would like to think that this kind of thing doesn't happen in the free world, I'm convinced that it does and the portrayal here is as accurate as you are ever likely to get. What these sisters endure is simply tragic. Lives are destroyed because someone dared to dream, and follow that dream.

This movie is also a testament to the love and bond of sisters. When one sister begins to spiral downwards her sister will do anything to bring her back, even if it ensures that she herself will continue along in the hell hole they are trapped.

This is a must watch movie for every male and female on the planet. Don't just watch...feel.

I expected this movie to have won the BAFTA award only for showing a controversial subject and being a Romanian co-production, like a sympathy vote for our lesser movies. I was completely blown away after seeing it. It was a film where international actors (american, British, Romanian being the most) created realistic scenes, completely believable and inspiring. Great script, directing and acting.

What is this movie about? It's about the ultimate feeling of helplessness. The characters all feel it at some time or the other and certainly the viewers do. As young girls are hauled away through Eastern and Western Europe, the viewer is raped as they are in that comfy belief that human society is nice, modern and evolved.

It is one of those few movies that make you feel sick inside, without being gory or too graphic. Is it a global conspiracy to blame for the evil depicted in the film? No, it's simple human nature. I can only compare this movie with Das Experiment, a movie that I recently saw, or with the more classic Cannibal Holocaust. It does feel a bit lengthy at times, but that's because you can't believe what you are seeing. You do believe it, but you don't want to.

A great performance from our Romanian actors. I loved the girls and the fat policeman. A great performance from the other actors as well, but in the end, they just fade away in front of the script and directing. Great job! I want more. Actually, I don't. I want a bit less. I am still shook up.

This is what director David Yates was doing before the last Harry Poter and I believe that he is worth being looked attentively, because this is a very different kind of movie and he is doing very well. This is a docu-drama about a very serious social and human problem for the countries in Eastern Europe and for the West as well, the human trafficking and sexual slavery that throws each year thousands of young girls aspiring to a better life in the hands of prostitution rings all over the 'civilized' world.

The script is well written, with a credible story, even if the big corporation involvement part was a little too conventional. Acting is clean and efficient, and the mix of nationalities and languages is very credible. Directing is made with a sure hand, locations are well and realistically filmed and this TV movie makes a strong and moving case for a problem that should not be ignored.

It's easy to understand why someone who is starving and homeless might risk everything in search of a better life abroad. But there are countries in which, although they are poorer than the affluent west, people can get by. So why do their citizens endure the most appalling hardship as economic migrants and illegal immigrants? Blame it on the grotesque disparities in exchange rates, which mean that a year's savings in Britain might be a lifetime's in Moldova; but blame it also on our most corrosive export, the myth that sustains our own societies, that man can control his own destiny, that we can, that we must, always seek to make something more of our lives. The irony is that the pursuit of this dream can take all of us only further away from what matters: a place in which, and people with whom, we can be at home.

The subject matter of migration has been excellently served in recent years, through the wonderful Channel Four documentary, 'The Last Peasants', and through Michael Winterbottom's sublime film, 'In This World'. 'Sex Traffic' completes a noble trilogy, with its harrowing but sadly convincing script, fine direction and stunning performances from its leads: British actor John Simm and, in two more demanding roles, a brilliant pair of young Romanian actresses, Anamaria Varince and Maria Popistasu. Serious but also dramatic, this is an outstanding mini-series. I have only two relatively minor quibbles: the journalistic, pseudo-documentary feel is slightly overdone, especially in episode one (the story doesn't need such heavy-handed treatment); and the strange way the film stigmatises an American multinational company. It's perfectly reasonable to believe that the power of such companies is one the main causes of the economic imbalances that fundamentally drive migration; but this company is merely guilty of covering up the fact that some of its employees have done bad things (but of course, it's easier to blame a bogeyman than it is to blame ourselves, and our own outrageous share of the global wealth). Don't let these matters put you off watching one of the most outstanding, emotional, and important, dramas of the year.