THE WHISTLEBLOWER
Canada/Germany, 2010, 112 minutes. Colour.
Rachel Weisz, Vanessa Redgrave, Monica Bellucci, David Strathairn, Roxana Condurache, Paula Schramm, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Benedict Cumberbatch, Luke Treadaway.
Directed by Larysa Kondracki.
Any whistleblower usually has a very difficult time personally. They have to weigh carefully whether they will communicate abuses to authorities, consider how the information will be received, what the reaction will be from fellow-workers, especially if they have been involved in the abuses.
Kathrybn Bolkovac was a tough member of the Nebraska police force in the 1990s. After a divorce, she wanted to move closer to where her daughter would be living since the father had custody. He thought she was married to her job. In fact, she was. Then she was asked if she would be interested in six months work in the Balkans as part of a UN peace-keeping corps. She agreed and went.
The audience has been warned from the beginning of the film that The Whistleblower will not just be about Kathryn’s peace-keeping work. We are immersed immediately in the world of human trafficking, specifically from Ukraine to the Balkans. When Kathryn becomes involved in defending a battered wife’s rights, she is asked by the authorities if she will head a department for women. She soon discovers the extent of trafficking in women as well as the involvement of UN personnel, many of whom were employed by a private security company. As she learns more, she experiences hostility and blockage from authorities. There are harm and death threats. She becomes more emotionally concerned with a group of exploited young girls.
The actual Kathryn acted as technical adviser for the film which pulls very few punches. She is fortunate to have Rachel Weisz portraying her, one of Weisz’s most powerful performances, tough yet tender, bold but apprehensive, principled and determined. The supporting cast includes Vanessa Redgrave (her kind of film and cause) as the sympathetic authority, Monica Bellucci in quite an unsympathetic role as a by-the-book bureaucrat (perhaps also a presence because of her belief in the cause). David Strathairn, always reliable, is another encouraging authority figure.
There have been a number of feature films as well as documentaries on the horrors of human trafficking and women being lost in a sexually and physically violent world. Lilya 4 ever was set in Russia and Sweden, My Name is Justine in Poland and Germany, Trade in Mexico and the US, Amos Gittai’s Promised Land in the Balkans and Israel. For the multiplex audience there was the action thriller, Taken, set in Paris, focusing on Albanian and middle eastern traffickers. The Jammed had an Asian and Australian setting. This indicates how the issue has become more evident in the last decade.
There are some graphic sequences involving the young girls who fell for the promises of a good life and found themselves sex-slaves. The brutality of the men is appalling. The expose of the behaviour of peace-keepers and members of security forces as well as the indications of cover-ups probably mean that the audience is in a state of anger for much of the film. The UN traffickers might claim immunity but, as Vanessa Redgrave’s character states, but they don’t have impunity.
A grim movie experience but one that is important for alerting all to this gross abuse of women’s rights and gross behaviour of the traffickers.
1. The impact for the audience, concern, anger, wanting action?
2. The issue of human trafficking, audience awareness, the result of wars, refugees and migration? The abduction of women? Of children? Their becoming sex slaves, imprisoned, lost or disappeared? Deaths?
3. The picture of the perpetrators, the gangster groups, the exploiters, the different nations involved in trafficking, the networks, locals and ordinary people becoming involved, organisations like the United Nations and their members becoming involved while peacekeeping?
4. The film based on a true story, the advice from Kathryn Bolkovac? The final BBC program of Hard Copy and the interview? The final information about her subsequent life?
5. Nebraska, ordinary, police work? The suburbs? The contrast with Ukraine, the Balkans, post-war Balkans and the damage and ruins? The poor areas of the cities? The peacekeeping presence? The dingy clubs? The countryside?
6. The United Nations and peacekeeping, the personnel, the independent companies with contracts? Their having immunity – but not impunity? The possibilities for accountability, for evading accountability?
7. The companies, the contracts, the screening of members, the maintenance of discipline – and the lack of discipline?
8. The authorities, the companies, recruiting, the contracts, the nature of the work, the interventions, peacekeeping, but not part of prosecution or policing? The members and their accommodation, uniforms? The role of whistleblowers? The cover-ups? The threats and violence?
9. The opening with the setting of the Ukrainian girls, at the dance, the end of the 90s? Kiev, the girls and their reaction to their families? The reaction of Raya to her mother’s comments? Going out, with Luba, with the uncle? The photographs, being led on, the promises?
10. Kathryn Bolkovac, a US policewoman, her job, seeing her in action, wanting a change, her colleagues, a woman in the force? At home, the divorce, her husband leaving, the bond with her daughter, the daughter going with the husband, his having custody? Her plans to move near them? The applications for transfers? Her failures? Her friends and their support?
11. Her being recruited to go to the Balkans, the promise of the salary, her agreeing to go, the arrival, the authorities and their speeches, her job, the colleagues, the jokes, the camaraderie, the international group?
12. The battered woman, Kathryn’s intervention, the case, doing her police work, the case going to court, the prosecution, the judge, her victory? The anger of the husband? The tradition of wife-bashing?
13. Vanessa Redgrave as Madeleine Rees, civil rights? Her invitation to Kathryn, friendship, offering her the job, the later advice and support? Bringing in Peter Ward?
14. Jan, his work with the company, the drinking and camaraderie, the affair, the effect on him, on Kathryn? His being a sounding board for her?
15. The staff, the talk, expectations? The range of characters? The male chauvinism? The contrast with Laura Leviani, the bureaucrat, everything by the book, trying to help, but ultimately too hidebound?
16. Life in the capital, the police work, the girls, the club, the warning of the raid, the confrontations, the guns, the brutal exploiters of the club, their being covered, police warnings? Evacuating the girls, sending them back, allegedly waitresses? Kathryn and her discovery of the cells, the conditions for the girls, her befriending of Raya, the contrast with Luba?
17. Raya’s mother, in Kiev, her regrets about her daughter, getting the information, the possible repatriation, the intervention of Laura Leviani? The mother, getting the money to go to the Balkans? Seeing her sister? The discovery of the truth? Her anger with her sister? Her daughter’s grave?
18. Kathryn, her being accosted, her going to Fred Murray, the confrontation, his blasé attitude? His being sent home? The other members of the company? The boss, the interview with Kathryn, suggesting she go home, the need of rest, special money benefits? The physical attack, her driver, with Raya, the crash, his injuries? Raya taken?
19. The local members of the human trafficking gang, their brutality? At the club? The customers, the sex and the behaviour? Kathryn with the photos, her search for the girls, her identifying their customers? Realising that some of the people were involved in the trafficking itself? Her getting the car, going to the countryside, trying to find Luba, at the border?
20. Peter Ward, his help, the collaboration with Madeleine, urging Kathryn to go into action, getting the files, helping her to get out when she was banned from the building? His seeming collaboration with the authorities? Sending Kathryn to England, warning her to go to the BBC?
21. The girls, Kathryn promising help, trying to keep her promises, failing? Going back to Luba, asking Luba to testify, Luba’s refusal? Being terrorised by their guards? The torture, the denials – and Luba being shot?
22. The BBC interview, the aftermath? Kathryn, her fears, her emotions? Accused of not being maternal with her own children, but motherly towards the women? Her tears, the emotional draining?
23. The impact of the film, a grim picture, the realistic details – and the appeal to audiences to protest this evil?
