I just clicked through to Rotten Tomatoes, where, based on a few reviews, Trade is pulling a sad 20% "fresh" rating.
I watched it last night. It has problems. It also has some strengths. It's from the tough-medicine camp, very difficult to watch at times, but noteworthy in putting a spotlight an important issue (human trafficking) that occurs in the shadows. I'm sure the reality is even more grim than depicted here, but the movie certainly doesn't shy away from the harshness of this practice.
Narrative conveniences and completely unnecessary character-background sketching mar the film, and the final scene (no spoilers) is one of the all-time whoppers, a major miscalculation artistically and thematically, but, I imagine, something that audience testing must have foisted upon the film. Bad. Really bad.
However, I have some admiration for this film, despite its flaws. I'm sure the fact that I have two young daughters made the film more immediate to me than it might be to others, but I'd like to think that the issue here is basic humanity. I had planned to overlook the religious angle entirely in evaluating this film, but that element achieves such prominence as the film goes on that it can't be ignored. I wish I'd found it more inspiring; I'm not sure it was needed.
I have to stop here. Work calls! Plus, if I go on, this might sound a little too much like a David Edelstein review that highlights the worthiness of a film's subject, while overlooking the film's obvious flaws.
Hey, I'm only human.
Full Version: Trade
Did anyone who saw it get the closing title with the statistic?
...okay, nevermind, I got it.
Gleiberman's review is posted, and he gets the movie just about right, I think:
As a movie, Trade is so-so, but as an exposé of how the new globalized industry of sex trafficking really works, it's a disquieting, eye-opening bulletin. B-
I'm curious to hear what other A&Fers think, particularly of the religious angle (I'm talkin' to you, SDG
), which Gleiberman, not too surprisingly, doesn't mention at all.
EDIT: Hey, I think I can figure out what SDG thought of the movie by looking at the A&F star rating (2 stars, as I write this), to which I've yet to contribute.
As a movie, Trade is so-so, but as an exposé of how the new globalized industry of sex trafficking really works, it's a disquieting, eye-opening bulletin. B-
I'm curious to hear what other A&Fers think, particularly of the religious angle (I'm talkin' to you, SDG
), which Gleiberman, not too surprisingly, doesn't mention at all.EDIT: Hey, I think I can figure out what SDG thought of the movie by looking at the A&F star rating (2 stars, as I write this), to which I've yet to contribute.
Christian: You'd be wrong. I haven't rated it yet either.
A second (or maybe 3rd) hand email passed on to me that seems to originate in the Episcopal Church Office of Women's Ministries:
QUOTE
On September 28, 2007, the film TRADE, a gripping tale of the dark web of sex trafficking starring Kevin Kline, will open in theaters nationwide. Equality Now, along with three other organizations, will receive 5% of the opening week box office receipts from Roadside Attractions, the film's distributor. TRADE follows the story of a 13 year-old Mexican girl and a young Polish woman as they are kidnapped by sex traffickers in Mexico and transported for sale in the United States. It is a powerful film with the sobering message that the global sex trafficking industry operates in our own towns and cities. We need to take action and stand against those who enslave women and children as commodities in the sex trade.
As part of Equality Now's work to end the commercial sexual exploitation of women and girls around the world, Equality Now recently launched the Fund for Grassroots Activism to End Sex Trafficking (Trafficking Fund). This new initiative, which is based on the successful model of our Fund for Grassroots Activism to End Female Genital Mutilation, provides grants to grassroots groups that provide critical services to trafficking victims, as well as put pressure on government officials to arrest and prosecute traffickers and others who create the demand for the commercial sex trade. Currently the Trafficking Fund has grantees in Cambodia, Iceland, India, Nepal, Peru, Philippines, and the United States.
To view a trailer of TRADE, go to www.tradethemovie.com. We encourage you to go see TRADE during the opening week and know that you will be helping Equality Now in its efforts to stop this and other human rights violations against women and girls around the world. Bring some friends with you!
If you plan on seeing TRADE and would like to take some brochures about Equality Now's new Trafficking Fund with you to hand out at the theater, please send an email to info@equalitynow.org and let us know how many brochures you would like and the address where they should be sent.
As part of Equality Now's work to end the commercial sexual exploitation of women and girls around the world, Equality Now recently launched the Fund for Grassroots Activism to End Sex Trafficking (Trafficking Fund). This new initiative, which is based on the successful model of our Fund for Grassroots Activism to End Female Genital Mutilation, provides grants to grassroots groups that provide critical services to trafficking victims, as well as put pressure on government officials to arrest and prosecute traffickers and others who create the demand for the commercial sex trade. Currently the Trafficking Fund has grantees in Cambodia, Iceland, India, Nepal, Peru, Philippines, and the United States.
To view a trailer of TRADE, go to www.tradethemovie.com. We encourage you to go see TRADE during the opening week and know that you will be helping Equality Now in its efforts to stop this and other human rights violations against women and girls around the world. Bring some friends with you!
If you plan on seeing TRADE and would like to take some brochures about Equality Now's new Trafficking Fund with you to hand out at the theater, please send an email to info@equalitynow.org and let us know how many brochures you would like and the address where they should be sent.
The A&F rating is on the rise!
Those two stars must be blamed on me, I am afraid, not on SDG.
OG is on the right track with this one, I think, though he gives the "film" aspect of the flick too much credit. This is one sloppy, sloppy script.
For example, narrative tension is supposed to be supplied by a "race" from Texas to New Jersey for both villains and heroes. What do the villains do? Well, instead of getting on the interstate, they take surface streets through small cities, then take a two-lane road by some two-horse town, wander off to take a leisurely pee, and then waste a couple of hours driving up into the mountains on another two-lane curvy road. Yup. Really important that they get to Jersey. And the heroes? Not much different. When they take a break at a truck stop, they have all of the energy and urgency of a retired couple on an RV tour of the Southwest. I haven't seen this much nonsensical and pointless driving on a road trip since Little Miss Sunshine.
There are countless examples of this kind of idiocy in this film--which is really too bad, because there are some good performances here (Kline's not being one of them: he's a bit like Silverado's Paden without the humor, plus quaaludes) and the subject matter is pretty damned important.
OG is on the right track with this one, I think, though he gives the "film" aspect of the flick too much credit. This is one sloppy, sloppy script.
For example, narrative tension is supposed to be supplied by a "race" from Texas to New Jersey for both villains and heroes. What do the villains do? Well, instead of getting on the interstate, they take surface streets through small cities, then take a two-lane road by some two-horse town, wander off to take a leisurely pee, and then waste a couple of hours driving up into the mountains on another two-lane curvy road. Yup. Really important that they get to Jersey. And the heroes? Not much different. When they take a break at a truck stop, they have all of the energy and urgency of a retired couple on an RV tour of the Southwest. I haven't seen this much nonsensical and pointless driving on a road trip since Little Miss Sunshine.
There are countless examples of this kind of idiocy in this film--which is really too bad, because there are some good performances here (Kline's not being one of them: he's a bit like Silverado's Paden without the humor, plus quaaludes) and the subject matter is pretty damned important.
Craig Detweiler is not happy about the critics' reception of the film:
QUOTE
Critics of the ... film can take comfort in knowing they’ve managed to bury an issue that demands our ongoing attention.
That's hardly the crtics' fault. The film itself simply doesn't rise to the level of its subject matter.
What Greg said. We can't review Issues (although many of us have done what we could in our reviews). We have to review films.
FWIW, I don't think people have to actually go and see the film in order to have their consciousness raised on the issue. If they read a couple of good reviews and decide the film isn't worth their time, their consciousness may be raised as much as if they saw the film -- and in that sense, perhaps, the filmmakers' goals in this respect were achieved, in a way.
(Of course, that doesn't contribute to the box office bottom dollar, which means the film won't stay in theaters as long and get as much exposure, but that brings us back to the beginning of the discussion.)
FWIW, I don't think people have to actually go and see the film in order to have their consciousness raised on the issue. If they read a couple of good reviews and decide the film isn't worth their time, their consciousness may be raised as much as if they saw the film -- and in that sense, perhaps, the filmmakers' goals in this respect were achieved, in a way.
(Of course, that doesn't contribute to the box office bottom dollar, which means the film won't stay in theaters as long and get as much exposure, but that brings us back to the beginning of the discussion.)
QUOTE(SDG @ Oct 1 2007, 08:43 PM) 
What Greg said. We can't review Issues (although many of us have done what we could in our reviews).
Yes, exactly, Steven. As it did for you, the film provided me with a great opportunity to soap-box a bit about the issue -- so Detweiler ought to be glad the issue is being talked about, which is the true purpose of any Message Movie. The movie just needs to generate talk, not necessarily be seen, as you noted. But after having soapboxed about the issue, I'm not obliged to recommend a weak movie.
Columnists and editors, now, are free to run all sorts of commentary and feature articles about the issue itself. Why didn't Detweiler do that? Is the villainy of film criticism more heinous than sex-trafficking itself?
Me three. Detweiler wants the issue to be raised; he doesn't seem to care about the quality of the movie.
I've been a supporter of IJM for a few years now, so I was already somewhat "in the know" about this subject, based on what I'd learned through the group. I wanted to like the movie more than I did.
BTW, Trade made $1,120 per screen this past weekend. Hello, DVD.
I've been a supporter of IJM for a few years now, so I was already somewhat "in the know" about this subject, based on what I'd learned through the group. I wanted to like the movie more than I did.
BTW, Trade made $1,120 per screen this past weekend. Hello, DVD.
QUOTE(Christian @ Oct 2 2007, 11:25 AM)
I've been a supporter of IJM for a few years now, so I was already somewhat "in the know" about this subject, based on what I'd learned through the group. I wanted to like the movie more than I did.
Ditto and ditto, except that my connection to the issue is the Newark Archdiocese's Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement & Human Trafficking program, started a few years ago by Archbishop Myers, who has made the issue a priority in his archdiocese (especially with this area being a sort of trafficking hub -- as seen in the film).
Every year Suz and I attend a fundraising event in which the archbishop highlights Catholic Charities' contributions in rescuing and resettling victims of human trafficking. As I mentioned in my review, it's apparently the biggest rescue organization on the east coast.
So yeah, I wanted to like the film more too. I suspect it was doomed from the moment the rights were sold to Roland Emmerich.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.