Although there were times during the movie "Trade" where I got emotional, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being manipulated. I spent the majority of the movie trying to figure out if the director was trying to be sincere in his focus on the horrific subject material, or if he was taking shortcuts at making something emotional. And then, after I wrestled with that issue, I was unsure if that even "matters". If a movie is "important", does it not matter if it's "good"?

By movie standards, was the movie Trade "good"?

No.

In order to push the plot along, an amazing chain of unlikely events had to occur. I could chronicle those unlikely events, but it's not important. There are about a dozen times where you sit back and go "oh come on, that's not plausible". Dove tailing from that is the ridiculous intereactions between the brother and the cop. At one point I thought I was watching a cliched buddy cop movie. They actually argued about what kind of music to listen to! If you're stealing scenes from Rush Hour, I refuse to take you seriously. Oh, and the movie ends with a huge swat team invasion.

Oh, and if you don't believe me, check out this line from Ebert:

A nasty, vile business, made more slimy because director Marco Kreuzpaintner doesn't trust the intrinsic interest of his story, and pumps it up with chase details, close calls, manufactured crises, and so many scenes of the captives being frightened and abused that they begin to seem gratuitous, even suspect.


Was I, the viewer, manipulated?

Maybe.

I felt like the camera lingered a little too long on crying children, or horrific scenes of abuse. You need a delicate hand to handle this type of subject material, and I don't think the director succeeded. But I'm not intelligent enough to know how or where you draw the line. A movie about the slave trade is going to have depressing scenes. The viewer is supposed to be depressed during those scenes. I would love for someone to articulate why I had a problem with the way it was done in this movie, because I'm not quite sure myself.

Is this movie important?

Probably.


I guess it depends on the target audience. A big movie like Blood Diamond is important because "regular" people go and see it. I know people whose opinion on those shiny rocks has changed because of the movie. But, as best as I can tell, Trade is a smaller movie. And I really have no idea what type of person goes out of their way to see a small movie with such a sickening subject material. I fear that this movie won't have the impact that it could because of the "Rush Limbaugh effect". Rush is pretty insignificant because he only preaches to the choir. Likewise, my gut says that people who are already aware of the slave trade problem in this world (and specifically the US) are the ones going out and watching this movie. This minimizes the impact that the movie can have (especially if it's done in a mediocre way). The goal of this movie is hopefully to educate, but I wonder if it actually achieves that goal.

In the end, I suppose that, despite all of its faults, the world is a better place because this movie exists. Even if the impact isn't as maximized as it could have been, it's still a good start. And even though I was somewhat aware of the problem, it still opened my eyes a bit. As it was ending, I was bracing myself for the cliched stats that come at the end of these types of movies. But seeing 50,000 sex-slaves entering this country every year really shook me to the core. I can't even begin to understand that.