#23 Movie - The Whistleblower

Today was a preview screening of The Whistleblower, which is opening this coming Thursday.  I would classify this as a Very Important Picture.  It is based on true events and features characters who are either real, composites of real people or only partly fictitious.  It deals with a US police officer who accepts a US peacekeeping role in Bosnia-Herzegovina following the internal war between the Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats upon the breakup of Yugoslavia.  She is not there long when a police raid of a local bar operating as a brothel leads her into an investigation of human sex trafficking that goes deeper than she could have imagined.

The subject matter obviously tells you this is not going to be a fun movie, and it is hard to watch at times.  I started to feel physically ill and distressed by one scene of abuse of a young girl even though they do not show any graphic detail at all.  Your imagination is doing all the work that they have chosen not to do.  Thankfully these scenes are used sparingly throughout the movie to illustrate the horror of what is actually happening out in the real world right now.  The movie is actually a great political thriller.

The best decision the filmmakers made was casting Rachel Weisz as the main character, Kathryn Bolkovac who is based on a real person.  She throws off her previous light entertainment roles (The Mummy) to go very serious as a woman whose compassion for the girls being treated very badly by their so-called protectors, and take on the big boys club.  She displays a real strength without having to act like a man.  The other plus is that the film is taut and compelling despite (or perhaps because of) remaining grounded in a very realistic scenario compared to your usual thriller - this one does not have anyone pulling out guns or any explosions or fights.  The battles are all done within the realm of real police investigation work and conversations.  The depth of the ring that is trafficking these women is quite shocking, to Kathy and the audience - as she says at one point, she was just trying to charge one man for his crimes.

The worst thing about the movie is it's ending.  Not the ending itself which is quite satisfying given what's come before, but the concluding information that flashes up on your screen.  It is estimated that somewhere around 2.5 million people are currently caught in trafficking rings in the real world (when the movie was made in 2010).  Clearly the work done by Kathryn Bolkovac in blowing the whistle on the police, UN and diplomatic staff who were profiting from this arrangement has made a difference, just not a very big difference.  It makes me feel like we live in a VERY lucky country but also wonder what can be done about this appalling situation.

It's a bit of a stomach turner but well worth the effort to understand the issue and also appreciate a very well directed thriller.  We give it a 4 out of 5 stars.