Many
films that purport to be about mature themes end up being Oscar baiting crap
with a short shelf life. The
Whistleblower, released in 2010, is not one of them. After the death of Jeffrey Epstein this year, it feels more important than ever. In impoverished
countries all around the world people are being trafficked and exploited by the
same group of people who purport to help them.
This film is one of the first pieces of media to address the problem
which many even now find too terrible to bear even thinking about. Their own charity donations and taxpayer
dollars are going to sociopaths, rapists, traffickers and pedophiles.
The
film is based on the true story of Kathryn Bolkovac who worked as a UN
Peacekeeper for Dyncorp International in Bosnia and alerted the public to a
human trafficking ring by UN Peacekeepers/Dyncorp there. The film takes a few liberties changing
Dyncorp International’s name to the more benign sounding Democra Security and
omitting the child rape aspect as the director thought it was simply too much
for audiences to handle. Even with this
attempt to soften the situation many critics still complained that the film was
too gratuitous and brutal. In truth, the
film is just too realistic for many people and to sugar coat it even more would
have been a disservice to those who endured trafficking.
The
film centers around Kathryn Bolkovac (played by Rachel Weisz) trying to save two
18-year-old Ukrainian women named Irka and Raya who are sold into sexual
slavery. Along the way she uncovers the
sex trafficking run by her fellow UN peacekeepers dead set on covering it
up. There has been great praise for
Rachel Weisz’s role as Bolkovac as she depicted a strong capable woman willing
to risk her career and possibly life to reveal these atrocities. Her character stands as a firm contrast to
other cardboard cutout depictions of heroic strong women in Hollywood as she
has flaws, she has an affair with a married man and loses custody of her kids
for being a workaholic, but still does the right thing even at enormous
personal risk. One thing I noticed is
the film tried to play up her capability in uncovering the case when the real
Kathryn said that she had heard Dyncorp members blatantly talk about finding
kids in front of her and amazingly the crimes were even more out in the
open. The Columbo style investigation
work she does helps to provide the film more crime drama and thriller elements
however and helps the audience follow how the crimes were carried out. The characters that aren’t praised as much
are the actresses for Raya (played by Roxana Condurache) and Irka (played by Rayisa
Kondracki) even though in many ways they play an even more vital role. They help the audience to understand the
reality for those trafficked and why they are so terrified to testify and the
hopelessness they feel. For lesser known
actresses they did a fantastic job and deserve a lot of credit in making the
film work. The film also features
Benedict Cumbersnatch, who has been in Sherlock,
Star Trek, and Dr. Strange in a small role as a peacekeeper.
For
all of Bolkovac’s hard work, the peacekeepers all have diplomatic immunity and
can never be charged with human sex trafficking. Abusing their role as benefactor and
exploiting those suffering from war and poverty at best got them sent home. The peacekeepers served as a sociopath’s
playground as there were no substantial repercussions even for the worst crimes
imaginable. At best her victory is
symbolic. She revealed the information to the public and shined light on the
crimes. The film is all around superb and
my only real complaints with it are some of its changes of the true story (such
as changing Dyncorp International’s name even though the events in Bosnia are
well documented) but had I gone in to the film knowing nothing about the real
event it was based on I would genuinely have no criticisms at all. It is undoubtedly among the best films to
come out of Hollywood this decade and possibly the most important.
