It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

As a fellow Human Rights filmmaker, this film is accurately portrays this aspect of the former Marxist Eastern Europe sex slave trade. As a director, I'm proud of the film's director for fighting for the toughest final cut, I know it cuts down on marketability, to have such a real scene towards the end, but it is vital for the integrity and longevity of the film.My only criticism is that it doesn't show the influence of ex-Marxists (Communists) in the Ukraine starting point of the sex slave trade. I would have liked to have seen about 20 of the brutal rape and murder scenes all through the film, and not just as the shocking climax. But I'm more from the Tarkovsky school of total inescapable immersion in the subject.One of the top 20 films of the last 40 years.

This was a bit of a tough go, as the movie itself isn't spectacular and the subject matter is uncompromising and at times not easy to watch. The story is important though and the cast is fantastic with Rachel Weisz giving her all to the role of Kathy Bolkovac, an American police officer who travels to Bosnia on a UN peacekeeping mission and uncovers evidence that her colleagues (and many higher ups) are running a human trafficking ring.You sure don't come away feeling very good about humanity after watching this. I did find the movie pretty jumpy as a whole with Kathy's story, being told in little snippets of events so that it jumps around a fair bit especially in the beginning Weisz is fantastic in her transformation from public servant to crusader, risking everything and getting shut down by the very people she (we) should be able to trust. We also follow two young girls Ukrainian girls through their hell.There are several big names attached to this in small, dare I say wasted roles; Benedict Cumberbatch appears in two short scenes, on screen just long enough for you to think; that guy looks familiar, realize who it is, admire his American accent and then he's never seen again. Vanessa Redgrave was also impressive here. 10/18/15

This is possibly the most shocking feature film based upon real events which I have ever seen. As the extras (called 'Bonus') on the DVD make clear, every single episode is based upon events which really happened. The only alterations made in the film were in the conflation of multiple persons into single persons for the sake of dramatic clarity. Every detail of what happens to the girls in the film really happened to the real girls being portrayed. The film is so alarming in the massive and systematic corruption and evil which it exposes, that one's faith in international institutions like the United Nations is completely shattered. No wonder the brilliant female director of the film, Larysa Kondracki, has never directed a feature film again, but only TV episodes for series. Everyone must be absolutely terrified of her! What will she reveal next? The real whistleblower who broke this story to the world, Kathryn Bolkovac, not only really exists, but she is interviewed in the extras. She also is credited twice, as story consultant and at the head of thanks. But Bolkovac (an American of Croatian descent) was thrown out of the United Nations team and has never been able to get a job with any international agency again, because of the internal horrors which she exposed. This is all too familiar, as everyone in today's world who dares to tell the truth or tries to expose corruption is relentlessly hounded and persecuted, but never rewarded or praised. So corrupt has our world of today become. I would go so far as to say that the world has never in its entire history been as corrupt as it is now, and that is really saying something, considering what we know from history. Rachel Weisz plays Bolkovac, the lead character in the film, and it may be her finest performance. This film stimulated the people making it to rise to a high level because they all shared the same outrage at the events being portrayed. Vanessa Redgrave plays an honest United Nations Commissioner, and the real woman whom she portrays and who supported Bolkovac's whistleblowing is also interviewed in the extras on the DVD. The film was a Canadian-German co-production, probably because no one connected with the United States would touch it, as the corruption exposed was mostly amongst Americans working for the U.N. The film is mostly set in Bosnia, and Romania was used as the shooting location for that. Monica Bellucci plays a shifty UN executive who compromises other people's lives away in the bureaucratic battles inside the U.N. The Romanian actress Roxana Condurache who plays the girl Raya in this film is due to play Lauren Bacall in the forthcoming film BOGIE AND BACALL, due to shoot next year. That is highly appropriate, considering that Lauren Bacall was a Romanian Jew. All the acting in this film is high intensity and mesmerising. The direction is superb. The director, Kondracki, is a Canadian of Ukrainian descent. (For those who do not know, Canada has had a large number of Ukrainian immigrants living there for decades, the first of them to enter the Hollywood film scene having been actor Jack Palance (1919-2006), who is still very much a hero to the Canadian Ukrainian community.) Kondracki and writer Ellis Kirwan worked for years on this project, researching the subject, interviewing survivors and witnesses, and spending time with the real life Bolkovac. I believe the budget for this film was only a tiny $6 million. Everyone pitched in to make this film on a shoestring because they believed in it and the importance of its message getting across to the public. I suspect that many people worked on it for next to nothing. It is a magnificent and mind-boggling achievement, of the highest professional standard and level of excitement and intense nail-biting drama. Everyone involved can be proud. As for the subject matter and the story, I tremble to relate the full horror of it. As I write this, a scandal of 1400 young girls having been raped within about five years by gangs in Rotherham, a single town in Britain, has recently come to light, and the collusion of many police and council officials and others in authority has been headline news. But so far none of those officials has suffered any disciplinary action. So what is related in this film is eerily prescient. What the film shows is the systematic abuse of huge numbers of kidnapped girls who have been turned into sex slaves by human traffickers. But the worst part of it is that this was done in collusion with large numbers of United Nations personnel, mostly Americans. Most of them were working for a private company given the fictional name of Democra in the film, which later makes it plain that the real company went on to enjoy contracts worth billions in Iraq and Afghanistan. It does not take a great deal of imagination to work out what company it is. This wicked outsourcing of military work to private contractors by governments and international agencies is an open invitation to abuses of the worst kind, and raping, torturing, and even killing young girls who have been sold into slavery is just about as bad as it gets. That is what this film is about. Furthermore, none of the real persons was ever charged or imprisoned. The incidents all took place in Bosnia after the end of the war there, when the UN 'peacekeepers', or should I say gang rapists, were enjoying their diplomatic immunity to do any illegal thing they wanted, including taking an active part in the human trafficking and smuggling of girls in U.N. transport across borders. And remember this: no one was punished. Just think about that. The brave Kathryn Bolkovac deserves a medal. So does Elysa Kondracki. But when are we going to do something to stop these nightmarish crimes?

I've never been a fan of "based on real life" films. I prefer to read this cases, do adequate research and investigations to discuss among my family or friends. Beside, directors tend to go over the line and play with feelings, making fragile minds fall in love with an ideal and avoiding the search for reality.However, this film doesn't play with your emotions, it focuses on the real subject of interest and the performances were outstanding; you can easy relate to Kathryn Bolkovac and the decision she makes. The violence is just the necessary, it's never pushed too far and the direction was very decent.The only complain I might contemplate are the slow and confusing beginning, too much explications.