Matroesjka's

In this series some young Russian and Lituanian girls are recruited by some Belgians with the promise that they will earn a lot of money as dancers (not as strippers) and that they will be able to build a better future for themselves and their families. But from the beginning on the problems start: their contracts are in Greek, they are first sent to a nightclub on Cyprus and they soon realize that their situation won't get any better. But what they don't even know yet is that they will not only have to strip. They will also have to work as prostitutes and they will never be free for as long as they work in the nightclubs...

I've been working as a policeman in Belgium Antwerp for many years now and often deal with slavery like this. so i'm glad some people took it upon them to make a series about it. Making Belgian people very much aware of what is going on.

I must say that the item is worked out very well and from my point of view as a policeman it's very adequate. although the end-scene is somewhat a loose-end to the series as viewing all the facts decisions are not wright. But that's the policeman speaking, no one else cares.

the series are great because of the dialogs in mostly Antwerp-dialect. if you see it in your language or subtitled it will loose much of it's originality, i'm afraid.

None the less, you have to see this one. It's already sold to 30 foreign TV-stations and will be broad-casted soon. This must mean that the series are great.

This fine Belgian series deals with an issue that has become so common in today's Europe. Eastern European girls and women are promised a decent job in the West, but they end up as prostitutes. Girls' credulity and and poor conditions in homeland lead its victims into modern slave trade business. It will be very easy to guess where the word 'slave' has come as it did not originally mean 'slave'.

Girls who have ended up into business have no other chance than to obey their masters and this is also shown in the series. There are however some cunning girls who attempt to escape their fate, but not much is there to do. Girls also have different attitudes towards their work. Yes - there are some, like a Russian girl named Kalinka, who don't think it's eventually bad to become stripper, if they have it no way better at home. But there are also girls like Lithuanian Daria, who is totally against the business and only wants to get back home. Some girls think they have found a boyfriend in their pimps, but are unfortunately mistaken. They all realize before long that they are just used for the business like batteries and then thrown away.

I've never seen anything like this on television and it may well be my first Belgian series I ever seen. Matroesjka's category is crime, but it presents the crime from victims viewpoint. It gives a completely different view to the world of prostitution than Boogie Nights does., though both are great in their own sense. Matroesjka's does not contain moralizing overtones, for it just tells a plain story of these women. There are even found 'goodies' in the pimps too, or lesser evils anyway. Everything in Matroesjka's is very enjoyable viewing, for some of the girls are really cool when they try to rise above their inhuman conditions.

In Eastern Europe, a group of hopeful, poor women are asked to sign a contract that they will dance in clubs in Belgium(which is where this was produced... note that hooking appears to be illegal there). They are being tricked, however, and find themselves victims of human trafficking. Let me make it absolutely clear that this is a subject that demands attention, and I applaud their intention. I wish I could say the same unreservedly for their execution. Honestly, if they had made this as a documentary, perhaps with, if possible, real testimonies from those who have made it out and are safe(names kept secret if need be), I think this would have been spot-on. Part of the problem is the exploitative use of the girls(who remain naive throughout, disbelieving that they may be forced to prostitute themselves, *even after one of them IS*)... you don't need to constantly show what they are being forced to do merely to establish that it's happening, and the amount and presentation of nudity and sexuality in this is counterproductive. The very intro, with the theme tune of half-heartedly thought out lyrics, is one long display of erotica. Did I mention that it takes up several minutes(who told these people that credits can't run over early scenes?) of the 43 minute running time of all ten(that tend to contribute to the overall events as well as be reasonably separate) episodes(and that's after each one starts with a 3 minute summary of, well, most of the time, only the one immediately preceding it, even showing things that have no impact on what we're about to see)? Do I hear you calling that a nitpick? No, what I mean to point out here is that they did not have enough story(why ten episodes? Several of them could easily have been excised), and the stretching of it is obvious and grating. I fear that the script-writers lack experience, because they make rookie mistakes(other than believing that sequences of people yelling at one another constitute drama, or that audiences will tolerate one anti-climax after another), leaving countless plot(and don't get me started on the holes, it's like Swiss cheese) threads dangling(or have them be cancelled out rendering them useless), introducing characters that make no impact to "keep the pot boiling", and seeking to have *every awful thing that happens(and a few that I am quite certain hardly ever do) to those trapped in this situation happen to this one small group*. We don't know enough about what's going on, including motivations(I cannot overemphasize the importance of that), they make a big deal out of money and passports early on, then they disappear and aren't brought up again, and the utterly untrustworthy(seriously, no one would go along with what Count Dracula and Grinning Psychopath ask them... and why are they always making ridiculous mistakes, how could they have lasted this long if they forget such obvious, basic aspects of their "business"?) keep getting away with doing things in broad daylight? There are too many roles in this, and you find yourself forgetting even names and what little personality they do have. This has some incredibly unrealistic things take place. The dialog tries to be clever, and sometimes really succeeds(this can be pretty funny). With all that said, this does present vital issues at the heart of this problem, such as the corruption, the stigma, the mafia methods utilized by the men in charge, etc. And when this goes for psychological accuracy, it tends to hit the mark. It can really surprise you, and that along with the tension it musters up at times does have you watching closely, a good deal of the way. And not only are the actors actually from the countries their parts are supposed to be, they speak their native tongue when it makes sense(meaning, Lithuanian, Russian, Dutch and English)... and the performances are outstanding. I'm not even sure I could say that anyone didn't live up to the rest. And this is filmed well. I would love to catch something else from some of these immense talents(the only ones that I don't extend that to are the authors). The grittiness of the environment comes across. There is a moderate amount of brutal, disturbing and violent content, as well as a tiny amount of gore, in this. I recommend this to those looking for a manipulative piece on something where we shouldn't need this kind of mini-series to get infuriated and demand action be taken. 7/10

Wow!! The first Belgium TV series I've seen & i'm already impressed by the 1st episode. The production standards were indeed high. And the subject matter...Wheewe! Heavy stuff. Now that is what television should do, educate, while entertain (for want of a better word). We always read about the European slave trade with girls vanishing from Eastern European countries & I've seen a few documentaries on the subject, but to see it scripted as a drama is altogether another thing. I must express my ignorance in that i didn't realise that criminals from Belgium were involved, I thought it was mainly a Russian mafia thing.

Very impressed & I'm glad we have a station like SBS that show intelligent programs like this from around the world. I definitely will track down the DVD & lend to friends too lazy to watch it late on Friday nights.

The Danish crime show, Rejseholdet is also screening & is also of high standard. The stories are more realistic & don't necessarily end upbeat like the US shows. More meat & potatoes than fairy floss.

Do these kind of programs ever show on US television?

Fantastic, I just had to vent my approval somewhere... Ha!

I agree that it is a good and very realistic film. It should be shown on TV in all Eastern European countries, so that the girls who might be tempted to go to the West, would know what to expect. However, I would like to ask a question to the previous commenting viewer who said that in this film "we see the positive and negative sides of buying and selling women.." POSITIVE sides? Excuse me, what are the positive sides of a slave trade? Maybe you didn't mean it, but your statement sounds like coming from somebody who regularly uses that sort of parlours and does not mind if those who "work" there, are being abused - as long as he gets "what he paid for". Very sad to read.