Product Details

• Actors: Mira Sorvino, Donald Sutherland, Rémy Girard, Isabelle Blais, Laurence Leboeuf
• Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: May 2, 2006
• Run Time: 180 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000ETR9VU
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,440 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Human Trafficking (Widescreen edition)" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Lifetime cable channel made TV history with this ambitious, acclaimed original miniseries on the horrifying phenomenon of human trafficking, or sexual slavery. It follows the fictional cases of young women around the world, lured or abducted, sometimes right off the street, into a world of unspeakable brutality--which the filmmakers show in almost overwhelming detail at times. Mira Sorvino and Donald Sutherland star as American government officials bent on exposing and stopping the phenomenon, and both are more than serviceable in their roles. But the revelation is Robert Carlyle, the Scottish star of The Full Monty and Trainspotting, who here is transformed into a ruthless criminal mastermind behind his own trafficking network. Even his Eastern European accent is spot-on and blood-chilling. The supporting cast of women and girls is strong, and in some cases, truly heartbreaking. And while sometimes almost unbearably harsh, the film serves as a reminder this terrible situation still exists and thrives; and told through the characters, is also a well-paced thriller. --A.T. Hurley

Product Description

Nominated for Two Golden Globes® - Best Actress and Best Actor in a TV Miniseries; Lifetime Television's most-watched miniseries of 2005. Featuring Emmy® and Golden Globe® Award winner Donald Sutherland (The Italian Job), Academy Award® and Golden Globe® Award winner Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite) and Trainspotting's Robert Carlyle, Human Trafficking is at once a gripping thriller, a cautionary tale, and one of the most fundamentally important stories of our time. DVD Features include: Interviews with Mira Sorvino and Robert Carlyle, Behind the Scenes with the cast and crew, and A "Take Action" Guide to stop human trafficking now!

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Stops At A Red Light September 24, 2006

By Alistair McHarg

Format:DVD

Human Trafficking is a bold and ambitious project; Lifetime is to be congratulated for exposing a part of society most people would prefer to ignore, and doing so in a mature, serious fashion. Originally designed as a mini-series, it is presented here in its entirety, with convenient breaks. This is helpful, at three hours it may be too much for the average viewer to assimilate all at once. Even the jaded appetite will find Human Trafficking upsetting.

One must wonder about those who claim ignorance of sexual slavery as it is practiced around the world. This appalling behavior is more than merely time-honored; it is codified and woven into the fabric of society itself. What is surprising, and what Human Trafficking gets right, is that sexual slavery is alive, well, and lucrative. Like drugs and weapons, a filthy business like this can only exist where there is powerful market demand, and that demand is chillingly close to home.

Human Trafficking benefits from good directing, (Christian Duguay), and some splendid performances. Leading the way is the lovable Scot from The Full Monty, (Robert Carlyle), who plays the Eastern block criminal mastermind behind the sophisticated sexual gulag. His accent is impeccable, and his character well realized. Sergei Karpovich is no Cold War ham-fisted brute. He is smart, computer-savvy, and thoroughly ruthless. (Like so many inner-city drug dealers, under different circumstances he probably would have been a captain of legitimate industry.)

After Carlyle, the showcase performance here belongs to Isabella Blais, (Helena), one of the women whose decent into sexual slavery is tracked. Helena is certainly not stupid, but she is vulnerable, and we watch in horror as one bad decision lures her into an unimaginable nightmare. We also see some of the ingenious techniques used to ensure cooperation. This is where Human Trafficking really shines. It's never sensational, licentious, or titillating. On the contrary, it exposes the complete banality of evil, the disturbing ordinariness of it in flat details that do not manipulate emotions.

There are two problems with Human Trafficking. At times it gets preachy, explaining the story rather than telling it. (With subject matter this explosive, that is completely unnecessary.) The other is the casting of Mira Sorvino. Sorvino is a fine actress, (her performance here is fine), but she is simply too pretty and adorable for the part. One scene attempts to show why she would take on the hideous assignment of catching these vermin, but it's not enough. Making her character female was an interesting decision, but to work, it should have been someone with more edge and less curve. Donald Sutherland, as her boss, excels.

We imagine our society to be advanced, sophisticated, refined. Thanks to the folks at Lifetime for shedding some light on the difficult truth.

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Human Trafficking: Brutal Truth December 31, 2006

By Candida Eittreim

Format:DVD

I rented the DVD not really knowing what to expect. Having written articles on the subject, I expected a watered down version of a disturbing reality. According to the statistics cited in this excellent movie, over 800,000 people in the US are victims of this form of slavery. It is, thanks to the fact we are the number one consumer of these victims, rapidly outstrippping narcotics in revenues.

What Human Trafficking exposes in an in your face, pull no punches style, is a harsh reality we all need to look at and discuss with our children. Thanks to superbly understated performances by Donald Sutherland and Mira Sorvino, the story itself is allowed to shine.

Unlike other reviewers, I didn't find Sorvino too pretty, but an intelligent, ambitious but very humane woman who approaches Sutherland to let her become a member of ICE. Think Jodie Fosters character which infuses Sorvino's performance. Donald Sutherland plays his role as her boss deftly and with great subtlety.

This movie spares nothing. The treatment of the children and women is raw and very brutal. All the actors portraying the victims offer stellar performances.

Human Trafficking spans several continents in an attempt to show just how these sex slaves are either lured or outtright taken by these monsters in human flesh. There are several subplots interwoven thoughout the movie.

One involves the enticing of young girls from Eastern Bloc countries by offering glitzy modelling contracts in NY. Two of them end up having key roles, both heartbreaking in this disturbing film.

In the Phillipines a hotbed of child flesh peddling, an aging obese pig of an Aussie pimp specializes in very small children, both male and female, who are used until they die of disease or trauma.

Mexico receives women and often the police are active participants in the whole ordeal, many times grabbing the first "taste" of such young tender flesh.

And the United States with its huge consumer base waiting for these very young women and children, is a blot on our republic which stands as a symbol of refuge and hope.

If you have teens, I'd recommend watching it with them, taking the pause between the first and second part to read the real stories and discuss the statistics. Though it is very raw and potent, it may end up saving your starry eyed daughter who wants to be a model, or your children in general from being sucked in by these peddlars in human flesh.

If you are a hide your head in the sand person, who'd rather not know about such things, don't bother watching Human Trafficking. But if you care about the plight of children-children dying from AIDS and other diseases, brought on by being forced to have sex up to 12 or more times a day HERE and abroad, this should be a wake up call to get involved.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing and engaging May 6, 2006

By Catherine Gallanti

Format:DVD

This is quite a well done miniseries on the difficult subject matter of human trafficking. The miniseries follows the lives of a few women and children as they become caught up , against their will, within the rutheless international trafficking of sex slaves. In partcular we follow the lives of two young women and one abducted young girl as their lives turn to hell after they become pray of these callous criminals. We also follow the efforts of governemnt agencies and parents as they attempt to liberate the women from the horror that they have fallen into.

The minidrama is very well done. In particular the actresses that play the young eastern eurpoean women are quite amazing. They play their parts very convincingly. They also both have an increadibly authentic eastern european feel, despite both of them being Canadian. All the other actors put in very good performances too. I felt very affected by this drama, as the facts portrayed about human trafficking here are not only true, but probably understated, as in truth women in these situations are treated even worst than shown here. How sad that our society has room for this kind of horrors to thrive, as it is to western customers that the services of these women and children are sold to. A drama for TV that makes one seriously think.