Trade (2007/I)

Director:

Marco Kreuzpaintner

Writers (WGA):

Jose Rivera (screenplay)
Peter Landesman (story) ...

Release Date:

18 October 2007 (Germany)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

You'll pay for this.

Plot:

Adriana is a 13-year-old girl from Mexico City whose kidnapping by sex traffickers sets in motion a desperate mission by her 17-year-old brother...

Plot Keywords:

Mexico | Sex | Mexico City | Auction | Kidnapping

Awards:

5 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Kevin Kline	...	Ray Sheridan
Cesar Ramos	...	Jorge
Alicja Bachleda	...	Veronika
Paulina Gaitan	...	Adriana
Marco Pérez	...	Manuelo
Linda Emond	...	Patty Sheridan
Zack Ward	...	Alex Green
Kate del Castillo	...	Laura
Tim Reid	...	Hank Jefferson
Pasha D. Lychnikoff	...	Vadim Youchenko
Natalia Traven	...	Lupe
Guillermo Iván	...	Alejandro
Christian Vasquez	...	Moncho
José Sefami	...	Don Victor
Leland Pascual	...	Thai Boy

Also Known As:

The Girls Next Door (USA) (working title)
Trade - Willkommen in Amerika (Germany)
Welcome to America (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for disturbing sexual material involving minors, violence including a rape, language and some drug content.

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

Germany | USA

Language:

English | Spanish | Polish | Russian | Arabic

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Germany:16 | Netherlands:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:M18 | Australia:R | Finland:K-15 | Argentina:16 | Argentina:13 (DVD rating) | Ireland:16 | UK:15 | Chile:14

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Roadside Attractions

Trivia:

Milla Jovovich was going to play Veronica, but backed out of the role.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Kevin Kline's character brings young Adriana into the bedroom of the house, Manuelo can be heard locking, what seems to be, numerous deadbolts outside of the room. When the door is opened to see if they are done, you don't see any locks on the door.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Jorge: Happy birthday, Princess!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2007-09-29)" (2007)

Gut-wrenching and Genuine

Trade is not really the kind of thrilling crime movie that I was expecting, it's about something I thought I might have heard about quite a lot yet actually never really felt: trafficking children and women from the third world to be sold for forced sex. Trade exposes the whole chain of the business with great genuineness.

For a subject like this it's handy to come up with much more gore and sex to attract some eyeballs, but not with Trade, there is nothing gratuitous here. At several gut-wrenching scenes, at the edge of my seat I longed to see some resistance or retribution, I didn't, but when I sat back and cleared my thought, I knew that was what would happen in the real world. Nevertheless although there are many broken hearts, twisted minds and lost souls in the movie, and even the last scene gave me a groan, I am not left with despair in the end.

Quite a few characters have been developed into some depth, while supported by first-class performance(excellent casting!) this doesn't cause confusion or dilution, but rather delivers me the feeling of the whole big picture. It does feel a bit dragged at the beginning, I guess it is needed to expose all the details of the business chain, the storyline flows naturally and keeps me hooked for 2 hours.

Overall this is a well-made untypical crime film with not so much easy entertainment in it, but if you want something genuine that will linger in your head, go see it and you won't be disappointed.