CAN ALL GOD’S CHILDREN BRING A BETTER LIFE FOR TRAFFICKED HUMANS?
A Canadian man, Peter (played by Michael Ironside), married Tatiana (Rodica Oanta), who has returned for vacation to her homeland in Transnistria Moldova with her husband. Their 10-year-old son had died in a traffic accident, and she cannot have any more children. As she sits in a park near an orphanage, Pavalas (Emergian Cazac), a cute young boy of about the same age, shows her a picture of her mother and asks if she has been seen lately and then returns to the orphanage, where he is punished for leaving the compound. Next, the couple stops by the orphanage to collect the boy and his friend Gicu (Ion Beregoi) for an outing at a nearby amusement park. Clearly, the couple wants to adopt the adorable child, but that will require his mother to sign an abandonment declaration and other matters, including a payoff to the orphanage. An agent from Interpol cautions him to proceed with care and warns that children are sometimes trafficked for their organs. What they do not immediately know is that Pavala’s mother Irina (Ina Surdu) has just arrived in town to arrange such an adoption so that she can make some fast cash. But the plot is not that innocent or simple. Irina is apparently one of many victims of human trafficking who has accepted her fate as a prostitute with no independent future unless she can get hold of that cash. Her Italian pimp Bruno (Paolo Seganti) is also in town, hears about her whereabouts, and asserts proprietary control over her: He demands payment to release her, and he wants that money pronto, so she must collect her son and turn him over. The boy, who loves his mother very much, escapes from a hotel room where she has him lodged for the exchange with a friend; Pavalas wants to avoid adoption. Peter tries to track him down but soon encounters Bruno, who is in pursuit of Irina, and the Interpol enters the chase as well. What happens next is a showdown and an ending provided by director Adrian Popovici that ends with titles revealing an estimate of a minimum of 700,000 persons annually who are victims of human trafficking. Even more poignant than Lilja 4-Ever (2003), Trade (2007), Holly (2007), Taken (2008, 2012), The Whistleblower (2011), and Trade of Innocents (2012), which dealt with the same subject, All God’s Children (Toti copiii domnului) has been nominated as best film on human rights of 2013. MH
A GAY-LESBIAN SUPPORT GROUP IS FORMED IN GEOGRAPHY CLUB
Michael Huffington (Ariana’s former husband) has directed Geography Club to advise gays and lesbians on how to combat shyness and bullying in high schools. The film features a first kiss between gays, closeted gays and lesbians, blonde girls trying to force men to have sex, macho bullying, and humiliation. As developments in the school get progressively worse, a lesbian student’s long-sought solution is to form a Gay-Straight Alliance, successor to the more closeted Geography Club. The film cautions not to expect support or leadership from the school administration; students must act on their own behalf, though they may find a counterculture teacher to serve as their sponsor. MH