A Hollywood movie called Human Trafficking, starring Mira Sorvino and Donald Sutherland, was made back in 2005. Apparently it premiered in October, although it's not clear from the website if that was Oct 2005 or 2006.
Interesting that it's taken this long to learn of this movie. Given Hollywood's sleazy standards, however, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that a movie like this wouldn't be widely promoted.
Also interesting is how, once the shock wears off revelations like this, any intial activism seems to comes to an abrupt halt.
5 comments:
Sorry to burst your bubble here, but this movie WAS widely promoted. It was made-for TV in 2005 and Mira Sorvino was nominated for several awards, including a Golden Globe if I remember correctly. I downloaded the movie after hearing an interview with Mira on HK television and was amazed- the movie was very well done and extremely difficult to watch. All of my friends in the US were buzzing about it, even guys who wouldn't be caught dead watching a Lifetime Original movie.
Sorry you missed it, and I completely agree that flurries of activism die down quickly when the buzz wears off. But there was a LOT of buzz centered around this movie, enough to reach me here in HK, so please place no blame on the TV station.
The movie did a wonderful job of demonstrating how widespread this problem is as well as how firmly entrenched the human trafficking practice has become in economic and governmental infrastructures. It also raises the interesting question of what actually needs to be done to solve the trafficking problem. The film points lots of fingers by showing why most activist efforts are so futile, and how the few victories can come at such a great cost.
The movie is excellent because it portrays the enormity and complexity of the problem without going the militant feminist route of solely blaming men's sexual urges. It takes a lot for this trade to exist- including several quite willing women on both sides of the fence.
sorry- all that just to clarify that this was not a Hollywood movie. :-)
I liked the movie too. I didn't think I would - but it was very well made: very thoughtful, very disturbing without being gratuitous.
I never saw the ending, and this haunts me still. I want to find out if the Ukrainian girl ever got away...
I never saw this film as highly promoted, I came across it by 'accident'.
It was very good and I believe there is some good information on the bonus feature portion of the DVD.
Thanks for the clarification, TinyTornado. It may explain why Kiki and I weren't aware of the buzz in our corner of the world (west coast of Canada).
I guess my point should have been that Hollywood would never make, much less promote, a movie like this.
Mainly because "sex sells" ... and so even the suggestion of putting any limits on sex, e.g., treating women with respect - particularly if it involves self-restraint - would surely cut into their precious profits.
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