Released: October 2007(Germany)
Director: Marco Kruezpaintner
Rated R
Run Time: 119 Minutes
Distributor: Lionsgate Studios
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Cast:
Kevin Kline: Ray Sheridan
Paulina Gaitan: Adriana
Cesar Ramos: Jorge
Alicja Bachleda: Veronica
Marco Perez: Manuelo
Zack Ward: Alex Green
There’s been a lot of press and controversy surrounding Sound of Freedom, a movie that deals with child sex trafficking. While I gave the film a positive review, there were a lot of things coming out about the movie following the film’s release. A lot of these controversies surrounded Tim Ballard, the former Homeland Security agent that was played by Jim Caviezel. People and news outlets started reporting on how Ballard’s O.U.R. organization was rife with corruption and doing more harm than good when it came to rescuing victims of the sex trade. I’ve gone over many of these issue in the past, so feel free to check out those posts, but what I CAN tell you is that Sound of Freedom isn’t as honest as the film-makers would have you believe. In fact, it’s more of a scam that really doesn’t care about the kids that it wants people to care about. Add on top of that, one of the funders of the film was arrested for felony child kidnapping, so the movie has a very dark cloud attached to it. If you are interested in watching a serious movie about human trafficking, I suggest you skip Sound of Freedom and watch Trade instead.
The story follows 13-year old Adriana on her birthday. She gets a new bike from her brother, Jorge, and she goes out riding alone. She’s eventually abducted by a group of Russians. When Jorge discovers someone had stolen her bike, he realizes that she’s been kidnapped. At the same time, a Polish single mother, Veronica arrives in Mexico to start what she thinks is a new job. She also ends up being kidnapped. Jorge discovers that his sister is going to be sold as a sex slave to the highest bidder, so he tries to follow them when he encounters a Texas cop, Ray, who is searching for HIS long lost daughter. Together, they try to hunt down and save Jorge’s sister. At the same time, Adriana and Veronica try to rely on each other to survive. The best stories told are always about people and their struggles. Whether it’s a sci-fi action flick, or a sappy rom-com, good characters are always at the center of the story. Human trafficking is one of the ugliest things that humans can do to each other. More often than not, these stories generally don’t have happy endings, regardless of what the movies want. The story in Trade is a lot more focused than Sound of Freedom. Instead of trying to fight the entire industry, the film smartly focuses on four people: Ray, Adriana, Veronica, and Jorge. Through their eyes, we see the journey that each of them are forced on, and it gets ugly. To fight human trafficking in real life, you need a scalpal more than a sledge-hammer. But for movies, the sledge-hammer is needed to break down the walls so that the audience can understand what’s happening. Trade, for the most part, handles the subject matter pretty well. The film doesn’t feel exploitative the way that Sound of Freedom does. Trade is more honest and direct with its approach. Although, the final act of the film kind of devolves into the typical thriller fare, but the journey is harrowing and powerful.
The acting here is outstanding. Kevin Kline is great, but the real standouts are Paulina Gaitan and Cesar Ramos as Adriana and Jorge. They are the real heart of the film. Veronica eventually becomes Adriana’s protector of sorts during their ordeal, as she ends up getting the brunt of the rough stuff that would’ve been inflicted on Adriana, although Adriana is not entirely immune. These characters are well-written. Jorge is kind of a rebellious teenager that scams US tourists, but all that changes when his sister gets taken. Ray and Jorge initially butt heads, but Ray eventually becomes a kind of father-figure to Jorge and tries to help him find his sister. Paulina is fantastic as Adriana. She would eventually end up starring in shows like Narcos. So, she’s really good. The villains of the film are pretty slimy, but Manuelo is obviously conflicted about what he’s doing. He clearly doesn’t like it, but it’s inferred that he’s stuck working for the Russians behind the trafficking ring. Good characters mean nothing if you don’t have the performances to back them up, and we’ve got some really great actors in this film.
This is not an action movie. It’s more of a drama with thriller elements thrown into the mix. I think it works quite well. The film’s pacing is consistent, so you’re never really bored, but you’re always on the edge of your seat wondering what’s going to happen next. The movie’s handling of human trafficking is handled more realistically than a lot of other movies that tackle this sort of thing. We learn that Veronica was actually lured to Mexico to be sold, and they use some of the actual tactics that traffickers tend to use to keep their victims from running off, like threatening their families. A psychological chain can be harder to break than a physical one. Now, do we have a single trafficking ring that encompasses the planet? No, even though the film implies that there is one massive ring being run by the Russians. So, some things are exaggerated and dramatized for the purpose of the film, but that doesn’t minimilize the impact of the situation. The cinematography is stunning and the editing helps the pacing of the film. Now, thankfully, we don’t see EVERYTHING that happens to Veronica and Adriana, but it is heavily implied. There are a couple of issues I have with movies like Trade. First off, the movies tend to skip over the psychological destruction that’s wreaked on these people. We don’t see the victims get any sort of aftercare once they’ve been rescued. Secondly, and this goes back to movies using a sledge-hammer to get their point across. Sometimes, movies can go a little too far in showing the suffering being inflicted. We GET it. This is a horrendous situation for victims.
Ultimately, Trade is a really good movie that DOESN’T have an agenda outside of telling a good story while bringing a terrible situation to light. This movie was produced by Roland Emmerich, who directed a large number of disaster movies like Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012. For him to give the pilot’s seat to a much younger director was a brave choice, and it worked out very well. It’s actually neat to see Roland take on such a serious subject matter. Everybody involved with this movie knew what kind of movie this was and they did their best to be as honest and realistic about it as possible. That’s more than I can say for Sound of Freedom. Trade isn’t an easy watch. A lot of these movies generally aren’t, but Trade has a lot of good things going for it: Great acting, great pacing, and a very personal and compelling story. By making the film feel personal, we get to understand each of these characters and feel for them. That’s what good movies should do. It’s just a shame that Trade didn’t get much of a wide-release before being dumped on DVD. Again, not an easy subject matter to deal with, but the film delivers on what it promises.