Human Trafficking (miniseries)

Last updated
Human Trafficking
Human Trafficking (miniseries) poster.jpg
Original release U.S. DVD cover art
Genre Drama
Crime
Written byCarol Doyle
Agatha Dominik
Directed by Christian Duguay
Starring Mira Sorvino
Donald Sutherland
Robert Carlyle
Remy Girard
Theme music composerNormand Corbiel
Country of originCanada
Original languageEnglish
Production
EditorsGaetan Huot
Sylvain Lebel
Running time176 minutes
Original release
Network Lifetime Television
ReleaseOctober 24 (2005-10-24) –
October 25, 2005 (2005-10-25)

Human Trafficking is a television miniseries about an American Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent going undercover to stop an organization from trafficking people, and shows the struggles of three trafficked women. It premiered in the United States on Lifetime Television on October 24 and 25, 2005 and was broadcast in Canada on Citytv on January 2 and 3, 2006. It stars Mira Sorvino, Donald Sutherland, Rémy Girard, and Robert Carlyle.

Contents

Plot

In Prague, Czech Republic, single mother Helena (Isabelle Blais) is seduced by a successful, handsome man and travels with him to spend a weekend in Vienna, Austria. He then sells her to a human trafficking ring and she is brought to New York City to work as a sex slave. In Kyiv, Ukraine, sixteen-year-old Nadia (Laurence Leboeuf) enters a modelling competition, without her father's knowledge. She is selected by the bogus model agency to travel to New York with the other selected candidates, where she is forced into a life of sexual slavery. Nadia and Helena are placed in the same house in Washington and become friends.

In Manila, Philippines, twelve-year-old American tourist Annie Gray (Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse) is abducted in front of her mother in a busy street by sex traffickers. She is forced into a child brothel which primarily services sex tourists, overseen by an Australian man, Tommy.

In common, the girls become victims of a powerful international network of sex traffickers led by the powerful Sergei Karpovich (Robert Carlyle).

In New York, after the third death of young Eastern European prostitutes, Russian-American NYPD Detective Kate Morozov (Mira Sorvino) suspects that these women are being "trafficked" by human trafficking gangs. Kate becomes a Special Agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under her new boss, Bill Meehan (Donald Sutherland), the Special Agent-In-Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's New York Field Office.

At a party worked by Sergei's girls, Nadia attempts escape but is caught. As punishment, Helena is moved to a location in New York City.

Kate busts a salon where girls are being trafficked from the basement. One of the rescued girls is Helena. She tells Kate about her daughter in Prague, who is successfully rescued by Czech police before Karpovich's men can abduct her. Helena also mentions Sergei Karpovich and implores Kate to find Nadia. However, Helena is killed by a sniper bullet shortly after being moved to protective custody.

In Manila, Annie's mother remains to search for her daughter while her husband returns to the US. Meanwhile, Annie is held at a child brothel, awaiting transportation to the Middle East. She manages to call her mother and they overhear Tommy talking in the background. They later identify Tommy on the street and the brothel is identified by the police.

In Kyiv, Nadia's father Viktor stresses about Nadia's disappearance. He locates details of the modelling agency and infiltrates the organisation by bonding with one of Karpovich's men. He is sent to Mexico City to help transport another shipment of girls. He is eventually sent to Washington, where he and Nadia are secretly reunited.

Using information from Helena, Kate locates the Washington brothel. While Nadia is away, ICE raid the brothel. Kate chases Viktor but when he mentions he is trying to rescue his daughter, she lets him escape. Nadia and Viktor are reunited in New York City.

Karpovich gives the name of the Manila brothel to his doctor. ICE raid the brothel and Dr Smith is arrested. However, Tommy is warned by a local police officer on the take and Annie and the other children are smuggled out just in time. The doctor gives the authorities Karpovich's name. Meanwhile, Annie and the other children are locked in a shipping container, awaiting their transportation. Due to missing paperwork and Tommy's execution, the container is abandoned on the docks.

Having no luck finding any new leads, Kate poses as a client on Karpovich's dating website and catches the attention of one of Karpovich's men. She pretends to travel from Moscow and is taken to the New York brothel. With Kate inside, ICE raid the building once Karpovich arrives. Karpovich is killed, along with several of his men. Nadia and Viktor are rescued.

In Manila, another of Annie's captors has a change of heart upon watching his daughter play. He calls the police and alerts them about the shipping container. Annie is rescued, along with the other children, and reunited with her parents. Karpovich's empire is dismantled, many other girls are rescued and his associates arrested.

Human Trafficking closes with images of people walking through crowded city streets, as a closing title caption announces that human trafficking is the third-most profitable criminal business in the world, with as many as 800,000 victims each year.

Cast

Production

The miniseries was produced by Muse Entertainment Enterprises for broadcast on Lifetime Television. In April 2005 Muse announced that principal photography had begun and that a Canadian broadcaster would be announced shortly. [1] The miniseries was filmed in Montreal, Bangkok, and Prague and was completed in July 2005. [2]

Reception

Human Trafficking received generally mixed to positive reviews by critics. Alessandra Stanley of the New York Times noted that Human Trafficking "avoids the seedy sensationalism that cheapens so many television depictions of the crime" and that it is "a harsh public-service message built into a clever, suspenseful thriller." [3]

Tom Shales of The Washington Post was more negative as he found the miniseries an odd subject for Lifetime to broadcast. He noted that in attempting to, "expose a worldwide scandal" Human Trafficking, "happens to expose vast amounts of flesh in the process -- exploitation about exploitation." [4]

John Doyle of The Globe and Mail was also negative towards the miniseries. He compared it to the "searing, shocking and hard to watch" CBC/Channel 4 miniseries Sex Traffic which "suggested a direct connection between the sex trade and NATO officials, and with Western corporations based in Eastern Europe. Doyle concluded that "While Human Trafficking is an international co-production with an international cast, it feels obstinately constructed to satisfy small-minded American viewers.

DVD

On October 25, 2005, Maple Pictures released a 2 disc DVD set of the mini-series in Canada, which contained interviews with the director and the five principal cast members on the second disc. [5] Echo Bridge Home Entertainment released the miniseries on a single DVD in the U.S. on May 2, 2006 with deleted scenes not shown during the airing on Lifetime, interactive resources, and scene selections. [6] The Canadian DVD is rated 14A; the U.S. release is labeled Not Rated by the MPAA due to enhanced violence of the deleted scenes.

Awards and nominations

Primetime Emmy Awards

Golden Globe Awards

Gemini Awards

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mira Sorvino</span> American actress (born 1967)

Mira Katherine Sorvino is an American actress. She won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite (1995).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex trafficking</span> Trade of sexual slaves

Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. It has been called a form of modern slavery because of the way victims are forced into sexual acts non-consensually, in a form of sexual slavery. Perpetrators of the crime are called sex traffickers or pimps—people who manipulate victims to engage in various forms of commercial sex with paying customers. Sex traffickers use force, fraud, and coercion as they recruit, transport, and provide their victims as prostitutes. Sometimes victims are brought into a situation of dependency on their trafficker(s), financially or emotionally. Every aspect of sex trafficking is considered a crime, from acquisition to transportation and exploitation of victims. This includes any sexual exploitation of adults or minors, including child sex tourism (CST) and domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST).

Prostitution in Russia is illegal. The punishment for engagement in prostitution is a fine from 1500 up to 2000 rubles. Moreover, organizing prostitution is punishable by a prison term. Prostitution remains a very serious social issue in Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in India</span> Overview of the legality and practice of prostitution in India

Prostitution is legal in India, but a number of related activities including soliciting, kerb crawling, owning or managing a brothel, prostitution in a hotel, child prostitution, pimping and pandering are illegal. There are, however, many brothels illegally operating in Indian cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, and Chennai. UNAIDS estimate there were 657,829 prostitutes in the country as of 2016. Other unofficial estimates have calculated India has roughly 3–10 million prostitutes. India is widely regarded as having one of the world's largest commercial sex industry. It has emerged as a global hub of sex tourism, attracting sex tourists from wealthy countries. The sex industry in India is a multi-billion dollar one, and one of the fastest growing.

Judith Ann Morris is an Australian character actress, as well as a film director and screenwriter, well known for the variety of roles she played in 58 different television shows and films, starting her career as a child actress and appearing on screen until 1999, since then she has worked on film writing and directing, most recently for co-writing and co-directing a musical epic about the life of penguins in Antarctica which became Happy Feet, Australia's largest animated film project to date.

<i>24: Redemption</i> 2008 television film

24: Redemption is a television film based on the series 24. Redemption takes place almost four years after the sixth season and two months before the seventh season in real time between 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm on Inauguration Day in the United States. The main setting is Sangala, a fictional African country, where ex-Counter Terrorist Unit Agent Jack Bauer tries to find peace with himself, and works as a missionary with Carl Benton, who built the Okavango school to aid war orphans. Bauer is served a subpoena to appear before the United States Senate regarding human rights violations, but refuses to go, and a shadow organization among the United States government aids General Benjamin Juma and his militia in a coup d'état. Juma's militia attempts to kidnap the children from the school and Jack has to decide whether or not to give himself up to American authorities in order to keep the children safe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking</span> Trade of humans for exploitation

Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation. Human trafficking can occur within a country or trans-nationally. It is distinct from people smuggling, which is characterized by the consent of the person being smuggled.

Muse Entertainment is a Canadian producer of films and television programs founded by Michael Prupas in 1998. The company gained press attention in 2011 for their production of the multi-Emmy winning and nominated miniseries The Kennedys in association with Asylum Entertainment.

Ruchira Gupta is a journalist and activist. She is the founder of Apne Aap, a non-governmental organisation that works for women's rights and the eradication of sex trafficking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in the United States</span> Human trafficking as it relates to the United States

In the United States, human trafficking tends to occur around international travel hubs with large immigrant populations, notably in California, Texas, and Georgia. Those trafficked include young children, teenagers, men, and women; victims can be domestic citizens or foreign nationals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunitha Krishnan</span> Indian social activist

Sunitha Krishnan is an Indian social activist and chief functionary and co-founder of Prajwala, a non-governmental organization that rescues, rehabilitates and reintegrates sex-trafficked victims into society. She was awarded India's fourth highest civilian award the Padma Shri in 2016.

Triveni Acharya is an Indian journalist and activist living in Mumbai, best known for her work with the anti-sex-trafficking group the Rescue Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susana Trimarco</span> Argentine activist

Sara Susana del Valle Trimarco de Veron, or Susana Trimarco, is an Argentinian human rights activist, whose efforts to combat human trafficking and corruption have been recognized internationally. After the 2002 disappearance of her daughter, who is believed to have been kidnapped by a human trafficking network, she spent years searching for her daughter, and started a foundation to support victims of sex trafficking. Her lobbying is credited as bringing corruption and government impunity to the fore in Argentina, a discussion which led to a 2011 law banning the advertisement of sexual services in newspapers and magazines.

Trade of Innocents is a 2012 American made thriller independent film written and directed by Christopher Bessette and starring Dermot Mulroney, Mira Sorvino, John Billingsley and Trieu Tran.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunita Danuwar</span>

Sunita Danuwar, is a Nepalese human rights activist and the founder of Sunita Foundation and Shakti Samuha, a non-governmental organization based in Nepal formed by women rescued from brothels in India that works against the trafficking of women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prerana</span> Indian non-governmental organization

Prerana is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that works in the red-light districts of Mumbai, India to protect children vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking. It was established in 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in Nevada</span>

Human trafficking in Nevada is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, and forced labor as it occurs in the state of Nevada, and it is widely recognized as a modern-day form of slavery. It includes "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power, or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex trafficking in the United States</span>

Sex trafficking in the United States is a form of human trafficking which involves reproductive slavery or commercial sexual exploitation as it occurs in the United States. Sex trafficking includes the transportation of persons by means of coercion, deception and/or force into exploitative and slavery-like conditions. It is commonly associated with organized crime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of sexual slavery in the United States</span>

The history of sexual slavery in the United States is the history of slavery for the purpose of sexual exploitation as it exists in the United States.

References

  1. ↑ "Muse Entertainment Enterprises Announces the Start of Principal Photography of HUMAN TRAFFICKING" (PDF) (Press release). Muse Entertainment Enterprises. April 22, 2005. Retrieved January 16, 2011.
  2. ↑ "Productions: Human Trafficking". Muse Entertainment Enterprises . Retrieved January 16, 2011.
  3. ↑ Stanley, Alessandra (October 24, 2005). "Selling Sex, That Renewable Resource". The New York Times (registration required). Retrieved January 16, 2011.
  4. ↑ Shales, Tom (October 24, 2005). "'Human Trafficking': Exploiting Misery, And Creating It". The Washington Post . Retrieved January 16, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Human Trafficking". Amazon.ca . Retrieved January 16, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Human Trafficking (2005)". Amazon. Retrieved January 16, 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.