The opening 20 minutes or so of this film stand as some of the most mesmerizing cinema I have witnessed in the theater since SICARIO. It covers a lot of the same territory as TAKEN but done in a far more immediate and believable way, delving deep into the many facets of the underground world of child slavery. There's section of the film dedicated to just following the unfortunate children around as they get kidnapped and distributed, and had it gone on another few minutes I probably would have broken down crying. It's heartbreaking on a level few films manage to touch.
The film doesn't stay dismal and depressing forever though. We get a hopeful message in the form of the lion-hearted federal agent Caviezel who takes it upon himself to rescue a particular child. Once his purpose turns personal and he hatches a fantastic plan involving an island, the film then takes on a more adventurous attitude at the expense of emotional impact. While it would have been more powerful had it ended earlier, viscerally I'm glad it didn't as it would have left me with a hollow hole in my gut after punching it so many times.
I've stayed out of the politics on this film and think the issues it covers chronically get mis-represented and exploited by both sides of the aisle as a political football. There's a lot of telling books on the subject including "Sex in Sin City" which really dispelled a lot of the legends while also providing a lot of critical insight from the law enforcement perspective into this under-reported phenomena. I am glad that this film exists as it'll raise a lot of awareness and it did shock me into changing my outlook on certain taboo subjects. It is not perfect but an important film which will hopefully find a way of altering history.
The film doesn't stay dismal and depressing forever though. We get a hopeful message in the form of the lion-hearted federal agent Caviezel who takes it upon himself to rescue a particular child. Once his purpose turns personal and he hatches a fantastic plan involving an island, the film then takes on a more adventurous attitude at the expense of emotional impact. While it would have been more powerful had it ended earlier, viscerally I'm glad it didn't as it would have left me with a hollow hole in my gut after punching it so many times.
I've stayed out of the politics on this film and think the issues it covers chronically get mis-represented and exploited by both sides of the aisle as a political football. There's a lot of telling books on the subject including "Sex in Sin City" which really dispelled a lot of the legends while also providing a lot of critical insight from the law enforcement perspective into this under-reported phenomena. I am glad that this film exists as it'll raise a lot of awareness and it did shock me into changing my outlook on certain taboo subjects. It is not perfect but an important film which will hopefully find a way of altering history.