Watch Trafficked For Free

Really Surprised!

An Exercise In Nonsense

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

How many movies have been made about sex trafficking? Really? Why do people keep making these movies? Many reasons, I guess. I eat up sex trafficking movies like fodder. I love em'. Trafficked is another good one. to hang your hat on, a kind of refreshing one, that starts off quite interesting, though some similarities do fall in later. Again, we base our characters around three young girls, who fall prey to these b..tards, one an ex Home And Away face, who's in top form. Washington, a young American, girl who's just turned lovely seventeen, who's really the central character, a fiesty sexy sweet, taken out of foster care, as reaching adult age, where she's promised this great career job on a cruise or island or a hostess, so we know where this leads. This is a very entertaining sex trafficking movie, steered by some really good performances- Washington and friends, the Nigerian older, more wiser girl, a real likeable sort, while Flannery is very good as the slave runner. Hun, Brian Thompson, visually unforgettable as the security guy, who has one two many power drinks. Even Patrick Duffy turns up in this as a crooked agent. Judd, too, makes a fine, nasty villain/procurer, who you'll make out her real self, behind that sick sweetly smile, while her real intentions,so clear from the start, they'll knock you head. There's a lot of intrigue about her character too, while Archer is really good as Mother Mary. There are a few impactful moments, throughout this very well made, and nicely polished film, and is a highly recommended watch. There are cliched moments of course, but Trafficked runs quite well amongst it's competitors.

Based on the book by Harvard professor Siddharth Kara, which he adapted into the screenplay, this film tells the horrific story of human trafficking in the modern age. As indicated in the film, there are millions of victims of the trafficking with as many as 100,000 in the United States of America. According to Kara, as an industry, human trafficking accounted for the staggering figure of $100 billion passing hands within a single year.The film had an ambitious reach as it depicted the of abductions the Nigerian Mali (Jessica Obilum); the Indian Amba (Alpa Banker), whose dream of attending M.I.T. ends with her brutal kidnapping; and the Northern Californian Sara (Kelly Washington), who was raised in a Catholic orphanage after fleeing with her younger sister from an abusive father and a dysfunctional family.Anne Archer plays the role of the kind Mother Monica, and Ashley Judd is Diane, an angelic social worker on the surface, but a sadistic accomplice to the traffickers, who betrays the trust of young Sara. It was disappointing that Judd's character was never fully developed to learn what was her underlying "story" that led her to such a depraved existence.At a key juncture in the film, Mali, Amba, and Sara are forced to live out a nightmare when they are united in Houston. It is at this point that the film becomes more of a "let's-make-a-break-for-it" thriller than an exposé. One of the most shocking moments of film was the completely unexpected betrayal of young Sara by Judd's character Diane. But one of the most uplifting moments was Mali's identification of "juju," the sacred spirits that will inspire the young hostages to persevere and eventually triumph over their oppressors. According to Mali, the spirits "keep you safe when trouble comes." And there was plenty of troubled exposed in their story.This was an earnest and indeed terrifying film that succeeded in raising awareness about an important topic. It even provided a hotline number in the closing credits.

Apparently this is based on a book. I don't want to read that book. I don't know if the book was badly written, or if the script for the movie was badly written; but something was badly written, and it shows. Also, the acting heavyweights in this movie, such as Ashley Judd, a frigging Boondock Saint, fercryingoutloud, and even Pedro, who I would vote for in any ballot he's in, they all play bad guys, in bit roles, I guess to tell warn us not to trust on appearances, which seems kind of dumb in the face of it, at least in the context of this movie. Also, the acting by the main players is kind of just really bad. I think the topic is important, and this movie cheapened it. A much better movie, in my opinion, about the same topic, is The Paradise Suite, which touched on the same topics in a much more poignant way.

This was a great topic to make a film about, and one would think with so many (15!) producers involved, they wouldn't have messed up the production.For starters, you don't hire Siddharth Kara, the author of one book (on the subject matter) with zero film experience to write the screenplay. He should have stayed on as only a producer but only to consult, and hired a professional screenwriter.Next, the directing was sub par... nice camera work but the actors, albeit C-grade, needed better direction so they wouldn't appear as if this was their first high school play. A few of the actors were decent, but I could see the lost potential to make their roles great from the lack of direction from novice director Will Wallace. Again, had a better director come on board, this film would have been great.Overall the story/premise needed to be shown to create awareness, Some parts are brutal, but it does get the message across.Would I see it again? No. Would I recommend it? Maybe to parents with young daughters.It's a 7/10 from me, primarily for the story that needed to be told.