Tráfico Humano

Given my line of work, this issue is something that I am very aware of. This film has strong performances and has one surprising twist (which I was not expecting - and I normally see these coming from a mile!). However, the most important point of this film is that it raises the issue - although to show the true deprivation is nigh impossible given this topic. Let's just say hell is would be considered mild. Hence, the topic can only ever be glossed over and be more of a decaffeinated version of reality. (For a slightly more gritty film on this topic, see 'The Jammed', if you can - it's an Australian Film).

It is impossible to truly represent this crime. No one can make a film (legally anyway) that shows girls (and boys) being raped by 20+ men a day for money... Yet that is exactly what happens, day and night. This is no lie. I have seen the effects of this. As you read this, more than a few girls and boys in the world is experiencing that against their wishes. A head in the sand approach does not solve the problem. The only way to solve the problem is to get men to realize that five seconds of their fun should not come at the expense of degrading someone against their will. Are men really that shallow and inadequate? (Oh, yes I am a man!) Men, if you need, just go to the bathroom...

Oh, and finally, to respond to the post by "e_pipersberg". Yawn. I wouldn't rate his post given that his sports predication was so way off as well. Seems he can't critique anything that comes close to being called accurate. Then again, maybe the topic was a little too close to the truth for him...

Kudos to Mira Sorvino (who has become a crusader on this), Lifetime, and producers for making this important expose of this vicious crime. The 4 hour opus charts a single Russian mobster as he kidnaps, rapes, and transports girls into America and around the world. Of course Mira and Donald Sutherland as ICE agents heroically chase the villains, but in reality very little is done to control these vicious predators- police are usually the problem, since they have no understanding or sympathy for the plight of captive "whores", whom they punish and bully for their supposed crimes.

I was a reporter for over 2 years in Russia, and have seen the monstrosity of these criminals and awesome beauty, sweetness, romanticism, and eroticism of the girls there- who are brought up to defer to and please men. In a place where people would make $20 a month, girls would jump at any Western job, which could give them a real life. Lured by an imaginary secretarial or maid job in Europe, they would have documents taken and quickly be raped and broken into total submission. Huge numbers are sent to Israel, where the government ignores problem. But all over the world, Russian girls are wanted by traffickers and johns for their great beauty, literacy, and skills.

An incredible NPR report explained how young girls are shipped to filthy Mexican nightmare brothels where they have to service 30-50 clients a day, then smuggled into America, where they are handed off to other pimps at Disneyland. By this time they are so terrorized and shattered that they don't even try to get away.

A Russian father improbably joins the traffickers to find and rescue his daughter.

If anything this docudrama soft-peddles the horrors- but TV couldn't take the unvarnished truth. It should be mandatory viewing for every American, especially all law enforcement. This hideous crime should be treated as seriously as genocide, since it is. As Sorvino says in the end, the shelve life of these girls before they are used up, killed, or diseased is 4 years, and some 800,000 are trafficked every year- several Darfurs, Bosnias, Kosovos, Iraqs put together.

I found the movie very compelling as it followed several different story lines, exposing many different facets to the sex trafficking industry. The fact that all these story lines were linked to one king pin running an international organization was pure Hollywood, but it allowed for drama and suspense as he was tracked by the feds. The wrap up and conclusion was also too easy, but again the mission of this film was to educate and spotlight abuse in an entertaining forum. This movie delivered.

On top of this, I especially appreciated the way the graphic scenes were composed. It was hard to watch, ugly, and grotesque. It wasn't played for sex appeal, or lurid fascination. It was ugly. Completely appropriate to the reality of the women, children, and victims of this abuse.

I was blown away by the production value and performances of HUMAN TRAFFICKING. Unlike most Lifetime movies, this one actually hits the viewer between the eyes with its raw, unflinching telling of various women's stories of trafficking across international borders for sex slave labour.

Loosely inspired by actual victims' stories, the women range from 12 years old to late thirties. They are tourists, single moms, women in bad relationships that need help, even a young girl looking for fame and fortune in the modeling industry.

The formula for the traffickers is simple: recruit women and girls that are desperate to get out of their current living situations, desperate to get a better paying job, desperate to go to the U.S. for a better life; make them believe the traffickers can deliver this promise, and submit their passports and papers to them. Once the traffickers have the girls and their documents, they can do anything they want to them. Some get moved around Europe, others end up in the U.S. all as sex slaves.

Robert Carlyle gives a riveting performance as Sergei Karpovich, the kingpin of the trafficking business. He's ruthless and cruel, yet intriguing to watch at the same time. He sets up his "businesses" to look like legitimate ventures, while operating a sex ring behind the scenes.

One thing that makes the character interesting is his smoothness when dealing with his doctor and the I.C.E. agents, while showing a sadistic evil side towards his employees and slaves. Definitely a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Mira Sorvino also gives a gritty performance as Kate Morozov, the I.C.E. agent that pursues Karpovich relentlessly as he builds his sex empire. Sorvino's conviction in getting these people caught and tried almost pushes her over the edge of sanity.

The scenes are gritty and unflinching. The material is difficult to view at times, but is well worth it in the end; in order to understand the universe in which these people operate, and the despair the victims face each day of their lives in captivity.

The film also addresses the problem of the market for these traffickers: they are doctors, lawyers, neighbours, relatives. Regular white-collar people that pay for these slaves' services. As long as there is a market, there will be sex slave traffickers.

See this film in its entirety at least once. It is unlike any Lifetime movie you have ever seen.

I only wish it was theatrically released for more exposure, so those who don't have access to CATV or Lifetime TV can also see it.

John Kotynek

I am so glad I seen this movie. As much as it sickened me it also made me realize just how bad this problem is because I never knew. It saddens me a lot that we protect our country from terrorists and they are always in the news, but we do not seem to be doing nearly enough to stop human trafficking and never hear of it in the media, my thanks to Lifetime for opening our eyes. If we are going to fight the war on terrorism then we should also be fighting the war on human trafficking. Our own daughters and friends and teachers are being taken from their lives and being forced to be sex slaves to men that we thought we could trust: Doctors, lawyers,etc. It is our duty in this country to protect our citizens! So why aren't we? I pray that these women and children from our country and all over the world will be rescued from this hell on earth and that these pigs causing this hell will be brought to justice! And a final word advise, whatever you do, PLEASE DO NOT try to find love on the internet, it could cost you your freedom!