Tricked: The Documentary

I saw this at a screening in Denver last night. It's basically an exposé of the teen prostitution phenomenon that exists across the country, as told by cops, pimps, journalists, johns, legislators and (most compellingly) former prostitutes. I felt it offered a very intense glimpse into a dark corner of our society that many of us know little about. It's interesting that, for all us Americans talk about the bad stuff that goes down in other countries, there are apparently things here in the states (e.g. The Players' Ball - look it up) that occur more or less openly and are pretty damn egregious.

The two things I wanted more from this film were: some more direct verbal interaction between people who support "the game" and those whose job it is to destroy it; and more consideration of how the "pimp and ho" culture interpenetrates with mainstream culture.

All in all, though, I was quite impressed. Daniel Steele, the main cop featured in the film, is a freakin' jedi.

"TRICKED" ? Really? Are my heart strings supposed to be pulled by this joke of a film? Perhaps in a few cases some "adult" or in this case teenage women have had a gun put to their head and forced into "the life" but I suspect this is a rare occurrence and this is a very one sided documentary. Once again we have WASP Puritan ethics from the 1700's forming the foundation for sorely outdated moronic laws and vice oriented law enforcement.

Entrapping idiotic horny johns looking for a 30.00 dollar blowjobs is not real police work,it's shooting fish in a barrel. Cops that are on prostitution detail are belaboring the outcome and wasting taxpayer dollars-VERY LITTLE OF WHAT THEY DO WILL STOP THE PROSTITUTION GAME.

They should be out fighting real crime.

Cops have to make arrests and justify their salaries and fill quotas.

It's sickening to watch the facade of sanctimonious justified indignation as displayed by law enforcement in this so called "film".

THIS JUST IN : If prostitution was legalized,regulated and taxed there would be fewer pimps,violence or disease/unwanted pregnancies.

After thousands of years of studying human behavior the results are blaitantly obvious- PEOPLE WILL ALWAYS BUY AND SELL SEX - do I have to cite the biggest cliché ever created ?

Whoring is the "world's oldest profession"

Get over it already,no one forced these ladies into a life of whoring.

Not for one second did I feel sorry for the gal who was "tricked" into being a whore in Boston as she went thru college.

She was smart enough to get into a good school,but somehow lost all of her common sense at that rundown motel 6 in Roxbury on that fabled evening on her hands and knees working for "toughie " the pimp?

The herd just got a little bit thinner.

She could have gotten a real job making low wages flipping burgers like millions of college kids all over the world to pay for her education. Hoe-ever ..the truth is she didn't...she chose whoring instead. Then we get treated to an interview with her mother crying foul about how her child's innocence was stolen?

Bitch please....wake up and smell the KY jelly. Your daughter wasn't "tricked" into anything,she was lazy and didn't want to work a real job. She had freewill and she used it.

I see a lot of women in the film who took the easy way out and DIDN'T WANT TO WORK A REAL JOB.

GUESS WHAT ? IT'S NOT THE PIMPS FAULT OR THE JOHN'S FAULT THAT THEY PUT THEMSELVES UP ON THE MEAT MARKET.

As for the film itself : there is nothing new uncovered here. This story is as old as the hills and has been covered extensively in many other documentaries and dramas.

Painting the pigs as Knights in shining armor and the girls as victims is a one sided portrayal of a complex dynamic.

Nothing in 'reality" is as it appears,nothing is ever so clean cut and black and white in the real world.

The truth and reality is that the world is a shade of grey and this film is half assed and biased,

Yes pimps are violent thugs, Yes,young women/teens and pre teens are selling their bodies to survive all over the world. This film is enabling the victim mentality and it is a one sided view of the game. I call BS.

edit: This review does not in any way advocate or condone the abuse or exploitation of minors____ EVER ! All of my comments pertain to adults over the age of consent-18-21 years of age PERIOD.

This character-driven film considers the evolving sex trafficking landscape as seen by the main players: the exploited, the pimps, the johns that fuel the business, and the cops who fight to stop it.

Were these women "forced to work"? One of the first stories shows a woman who claims she was beat up in an alley and then forced to work. This story is very suspect. Not to blame the victim, but it seems odd that rather than go to police she chose to start prostitution. That is a pretty extreme. And this is apparently typical?

Is this a business partnership? Journalist Nick Kristof thinks not, and sees it only as violence and exploitation. Is this always true? Maybe in the United States, where prostitution is illegal. It would be interesting to compare these situations to Nevada or the Netherlands.

I think in general this documentary was decent. It could have done a better job of addressing assumptions people make.

As a survivor I really feel the need to address some of the crap being said in these reviews..... 1. "Why didn't they just ask for help they had opportunities " traffickers use so many tactics to discourage victims like threats against loved ones, physical violence,manipulation, ect.... traffickers groom their victims. There is also a lot of shame and embarrassment that victims feel because of what society says. Let's not forget the fear of bot being believed. As far as the police... you never know which ones will help and which ones won't. Some of them (especially in D.C.) help the traffickers. One time when I was arrested the cop kept telling me about how he wanted to bend me over and spank me. When I actually asked for help the officer wrote it up as a welfare check and said "when you go back to work for him if you see me on the track act like you don't know me" and this was a female officer that said this. So yes asking for help isn't always helpful 😑😑😑😒

2. "Most of them are doing this willingly" Nobody wakes up and says hey I think I am going to sell my body today. A majority of these victims have experienced some kind of trauma that helped to push them in this direction. Traffickers prey on people that they think they can control and groom. Victims aren't always kidnapped. I met my first trafficker when I was 15 and he pretended to be my boyfriend for months before he even admitted to being a "pimp".

I would keep going, but honestly the more I am thinking about some of the responses the more it pisses me off because it's these crap assumptions that make it more difficult for victims to get help.

It's really hard to believe there are stupid people out there who would be critical about this film ...bitching about how one sided it is !?!? If there was a movie about "violent rape" and it interviewed a handful or rape victims would they be saying the same thing ... (in a dopey, slow drawl) "hey I don't know what to think about this film because it's one sided, I would like to hear from the rapists before I make any judgments" Seriously? They are talking about kids in this movie being tricked by adults ! Really do you think teenagers and or pre-teens want to service an old fat men for $30? And then hand over the money? And to do this morning, noon and night? Do you think children are just as smart as an adult? Do you think a child's brain is fully developed? Do you think a child has sharpened critical thinking skills. Do you think adults can manipulate a child's mind and threaten them with violence to them and or to their families to control them? You do realized a human's brain isn't fully developed until 25 right. Do you know when you capture an elephant you need to only chain it up for a few weeks and after unsuccessfully trying to break the chain it can be secured with a rope for the rest of it's life. Well humans are not elephants but the same principle applies at least for a while. The lack of intelligence and compassion with these moronic reviews is beyond me, please go slap your parents for raising a nincompoop.