Trade - Les trafiquants de l'ombre

Based on Peter Landesman's cover story, the film follows a Texas cop (Kline) and Jorge (Ramos) who are on the trail to save Jorge's sister (Gaitan), a 13-year-old girl from Mexico City who was kidnapped to be sold in the sex-trade. A powerful story, with Kline and Ramos making an interesting duo. The conflict seems to always be easy to overcome, with the two leads never loosing the tail of the kidnappers no matter what the obstacle is. The tragic irony at the end is an eye-roller. The hunt begins to feel far-fetched as the film progresses, and Kline is as dull as usual. The Mexico City setting alone is a plus to this roller-coaster of thrills and yawns.

**½ (out of four)

Based on an article written by Peter Landesman, who also wrote the story and co-wrote the screenplay with Jose Rivera ('The Motorcycle Diaries'), TRADE literally forces us to experience the cruel, vicious international market for sex slaves. It is brutally captured on film by director Marco Kreuzpaintner ('Summer Storm') in a manner that spares nothing to unveil the atrocities created by the many people form all countries who ply this trade. It is a tough film to watch, but it is also an important film to see: the public MUST be made aware of this criminal activity that robs the lives of children and adults around the globe.

The setting is Mexico City and in the poor sector lives a fatherless family supported by the oldest son Jorge (Cesar Ramos) whose 'occupation' is petty crime that allows him to bring in money for his mother and his beloved sister Adriana (Paulina Gaitan). We see the abduction of a beautiful young Polish girl Weronica (Alicja Bachleda-Curus) in the Russian sector of the city. Soon after Adriana, trying out her newest bicycle gift from Jorge, is likewise abducted. The girls (and boys) are kept in filthy apartments awaiting border crossings into the US where they will be shipped to New Jersey for sale after being advertised for auction on the Internet. Jorge discovers the absence of his sister, traces her to the Russian sector where he sees the filth in which the victims are kept, but where he also encounters a Texas policeman Ray Sheridan (Kevin Kline) who is continuing his years long search for his daughter. The two 'meet' and join in the chase for the lost girls. And it is the manner in which Jorge and Ray gradually become friends and the clever way in which they cooperate that forms the rest of the story.

Yes, the film is overlong and borders a bit too closely on soap opera techniques, but the acting is so committed and the story is news so important that any flaw in the film can be forgiven because it opens the door to a crime that is all too unfamiliar to most citizens. It is a true story and therein lies the terror. It should be seen. Grady Harp

This was the first time I had ever tears in my eyes in a cinema! This film absolutely blew me away.

Acting, Character development, dialogue and especially the camera-work was just extremely well done. This was a really gripping and very emotional movie, and in my opinion this was the best movie-ending ever, at least the best one I have ever seen.

You should not only watch it because of its important message, but also because its just a brilliant film!

So, the bottom line is, I've never been so moved by a movie and I can only recommend this film to everyone! Go see it!!!

The plight of innocent victims of human trafficking for sex has moved filmmakers enough to make movies addressing the issue. The last two in recent memory that I've watch are Your Name is Justine, and Lilya-4ever, both which put the spotlight specifically on the characters created, highlighting the abuse they receive and exposing some of the tricks that the conmen exploit in order to target and thereafter control their prey. Given that the viewpoint of the entire unfortunate ordeal from the perspective of the victims have been portrayed, and is easy and turning the same wheel if done again, Trade takes on a more macroscopic look, while still maintaining a finger in a more personalized tale, in order to ramp up the human drama and emotions.

While the other two movies mentioned take place primarily in Europe, Trade highlights a more international network involved in the supply chain, where increasing amounts of money get exchanged for women and children to feed the demand by perverts and paedophiles. While having its premise for the demand set in USA, it goes to show that the unfortunate victims come from all over the world, and suggests the use of Mexico as the proxy to get into the USA illegally, no doubt with the help of corrupted authorities. From then on, it's an established hush-hush protocol of transfers and transactions that take place in the most unseeming of places, and naturally technology comes to play in anonymous bidding on the internet.

Primarily, this story is a race against time, following a young Mexican boy, Jorge (Cesar Raoms), in his chase to rescue his sister Adriana (Paulina Gaitan) as she gets abducted randomly off the streets - being a young child, she is set to obtain record prices should she be auctioned off to be deflowered. While Adriana gets to enter USA through already established methods by the syndicate, Jorge has to rely on his street smarts, and unwittingly gets hooked up with US cop Ray Sheridan, played by Kevin Kline, who assists in Jorge's quest under moral circumstances rather than deporting Jorge straightaway for being a stray.

Like a buddy cop movie, Trade also looks at the unlikely partnership between street delinquent and tough nose cop with the heart of gold, as they try and penetrate the system, while leaving room for some clash of cultures and slightly comedic instances. The unfortunate circumstance of the victims are again getting a shiner in order to be subdued, and of course the weapon of choice, rape. And the movie results in you silently cursing the worst for those involved in the trade, and never sympathizing an iota with them when they receive their dues.

Technical wise, someone should tell the filmmakers that password fields are always asterisk, never in clear text, even the dumbest website programmer won't make that mistake. One of my other peeves here was the decision not to mount the camera on a tripod. While it's not the extreme kind of shaky cam like Cloverfield's, it did bring on some queasiness given the very minor movements, all of the time. I don't see the need for this, and wondered if it's because it might look cool and edgy with the fast cuts and all that the tripod was junked, wrongly.

Based on a New York Times Magazine article published on 25 Jan 2004 written by Peter Landesman, Trade offers to strike a balance between painting a picture of sympathy for the victims and disgust for the perpetrators. Unlike the other movies which has come before, Trade managed to spin a somewhat refreshing look at the worldwide sex slavery problem.

This film was very powerful, deeply moving and excellently humanized the underground sex slave trade it portrayed. Both my girlfriend and I were near tears watching it. Truly remarkable.

The acting is nothing short of incredible, I really felt for everyone involved from Adriana's helpless brown eyes, to Jorge's honorable vigilance and and Kevin Kline's tempered patience.

The worst part of seeing this film was realizing that every day people get away with this kind of thing and the real victim's stories will never be told.

Warning for parents, some of the scenes are pretty difficult to sit through.