I understand others' frustration with this portrayal and the end result, but overall I thought this was a great telling of a horrible truth that many face every day. It was very difficult to stomach at many times, which is totally thanks to the phenomenal acting by adults and children alike. The scene where BeeBee meets her end was truly heartbreaking, and showed just enough to make you angry and sad for her. There are other movies that show the realities of sex trafficking just as well or better, but most don't show what happens to children. This is an unfortunate reality that people need to be faced with. It's not just teens and young women who go through this, there are children suffering the same fates.
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heatherlerwin28 April 2022
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desertshark-4565222 August 2018This film is a very earnest, sincere and sober attempt to tackle one of the most sensitive issues in society today, child sex trafficking. There are many positive points about this film which, on balance, make it well worth watching. The story is told honestly enough that it gets across the ugliness and the brutal reality that sex-enslaved minors live through, yet tactfully enough that it is not distasteful or exploitative of the minors that are the subject of the film. However, in the hands of a first time director/writer, working with a cast of mostly young, inexperienced actors, some scenes fall short of the impact the script clearly intended.
The story centers around a young prostitute, Layla (Ciara Jiana) who wakes up in a hospital after being beaten and left for dead by her pimp. In flashbacks, she recounts her history to a detective, (Erika Ringor) where as a 10 year old girl, she (played by Aliyah Conley) is abducted from her suburban neighborhood in Anytown, USA. She spends the next seven years of her life being moved around the country, along with a handful of other young victims who are introduced to her as her new "sisters". They are systematically drugged, psychologically manipulated, tortured, exploited and sold by a brutal and cunning, yet charismatic pimp. (Johnny Rey Diaz)
The story is a distillation of true events taken from interviews of sex trafficking survivors conducted by the films writer/director, Mischa Marcus. It is a raw subject that will likely not appeal to a wide audience, but being the important issue that it is, this is a movie that needed to be made.
The standout performance in this film is given by Johnny Rey Diaz as the sociopathic, manipulative pimp who, through a combination of drugging, coercion, physical violence, intimidation and psychological manipulation, keeps his brothel of young slaves imprisoned and even cooperative, seeing him as a father figure and protector. Diaz's convincingly chilling performance makes it easy to imagine how such monsters can exist and his visceral portrayal is the glue that holds the whole film together. Also very impressive as the young Layla, is Aliyah Conley in an extraordinarily challenging role for such a young actress. There are some other fine performances in supporting roles by Erika Ringor as a compassionate detective investigating Layla's case and an unsettlingly sympathetic john played by Jeff Hatch that reminds the audience that the sickness of pedophilia is often easily disguised behind a likable, even seemingly noble exterior.
At times, however, some performances, dialogue and directing choices veer into melodramatic embellishment which gives this film a made-for-tv movie-of-the-week cheesiness in certain places that just doesn't work with the delicate subject matter. These schmaltzy moments are sometimes the unavoidable byproduct of an eager and sincere rookie director making a low budget passion project where there isn't the experience, time or money to correct the bits that get a little over cooked. Being familiar with the world of micro-budget filmmaking, I am very forgiving of such flaws in an otherwise good movie, but more demanding audience members might feel a bit let down when such a serious story falls short of a Hollywood caliber delivery. -
paulah-681214 January 2023As a sexual violence crisis worker and victim advocate, this movie hit me hard. What some have seen as poor acting, I saw as innocence played incredibly well by mere children. I felt the main character portrayed the confusion and brokenness so well. By midway through the movie, I'd forgotten I was watching a reenactment. What some saw as a so-called "romantic" relationship between a victim and her abusive captor, played to me as the exact words a pimp would use to reel in and keep girls under lock and key. So much of this movie mirrored actual accounts I myself have heard. It hurt my heart, watching it play out with such young girls. Sadly; it happens just like this movie portrayed, in every city, everyday.
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suzie4236615 May 2019One of the best human trafficking feature films I have seen. The story is compelling and yet not overly dramatized. It is solid storytelling and yet also useful in pointing out many truths of human trafficking. It is going to be hard to watch for the naive. As someone who works to assist trafficking survivors, this story shows well some aspects of trafficking.
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pdg-556251 November 2022I'm a grown man who's seen plenty of drama films but this one hit a nerve with me. It made me angry, and I was wondering "what can I do to help trafficking victims?". Excellent acting by the child lead. Very hard watch at times, but it had me hooked to the end. If you're anything like me, it'll leave you feeling that our governments collectively need to a do a lot more to protect children from this evil of trafficking. And if that was the film makers goal, then it was a noble one and mission accomplished. Hopefully more people watch this film and are left with the same impression. Excellent film.
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sgimera-3491712 December 2020Such an important topic to try and spread the message about and yet, no effort, budget, direction was given to this piece. Sad.
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racefo13 June 2021The photography, performance, soundtrack, direction and even the script on this story is so poorly developed that any true story behind won't get justice out of this abomination.
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Pilolai14 November 2021Not sure what was the purpose of this movie. It was such an important topic and yet they somehow tried to romanticize a pedophile- victim relationship. How did they end up making a child abuser a hero? They really didnt show the severity of human trafficking. Its like the writter is trying to change the culture of pedophilia in America. Its not nice and pretty. I gave it three stars for the children acting.