SKIN TRADE EXPLOITS THE SKIN TRADE
Titles at the end indicate that 20-30 million persons, 98 percent of whom are women and children, are involved in human trafficking each year. Directed by Ekachai Uekrongtham, Skin Trade involves efforts to free women captives and eliminate an small army involved in the trade. The head gangster is Viktor (played by Ron Perlman), a Serbian with Russian citizenship who buys Cambodians and Vietnamese girls from desperate parents, and then has them transported to Thailand for sale in Europe and the United States. For official and personal reasons, detectives Tony Vitayakul (Tony Jaa) and Nick (Dolph Lundgren) try to break up the operation centered in Poipet, Cambodia, the town bordering Thailand en route to Angkor Wat. Filmviewers see about one hundred captives, some of whom arrive at their destination dead in a shipping container. However, much of the film consists of martial arts displays. Cinematography of Bangkok is impressive. (Except for scenes in Vancouver that pretend to be in the United States, the film is filmed entirely in Thailand.) But the story line is confused, with Nick and Tony friends, then adversaries, and then friends again. MH