By Pamela Rose Williams
Some time ago, I was offered an opportunity to review the film “Trafficked – A Parent’s Worst Nightmare” featuring Sophie Bolen, Kristy Swanson and Dean Cain. The film was released to help spread awareness of the heinous reality of human trafficking and help spread hope for rescue, recovery, and healing. Here is my review of the movie.
Film Summary
“Trafficked” is a fictional film that follows the abduction of a sixteen-year-old girl “Allison” Riley after she meets up with a boy she found on the internet. The film gives great details of how human trafficking (slavery) can and is happening, even in the United States of America. “Trafficked” follows Allison’s story as her parents and friends realize she is missing. Allison is taken into a sex trafficking ring that has interstate connections which could enable her abductors to transfer her to other states easily and unnoticed.
A Few Things that Jumped Out at Me
This true to life film shares many things from which we can learn to be aware of to understand the human trafficking that is happening right in our own backyard. This snatching up of slaves is easy for the abductors when our guard is down and we become unaware of what is happening, beginning in our own home. Here are some of the things that jumped out at me as I watched “Trafficked – A Parent’s Worst Nightmare”:
- I was concerned that Allison (15-16 years old) and her sister (younger) had no real supervision while they used devices to communicate on social media.
- I was not surprised to see that Allison’s friends, and even her friend’s parents, seemed to know more about Allison’s relationships than her own parents, though this should not be the case.
- I was sad to see that Allison’s friends were not even concerned that she had a new “boyfriend” that she only knew through social media.
- I was glad that Allison’s mom acted on instinct and convinced Dad to contact authorities regarding Allison’s absence.
- It was good to see that there are some resources (private investigators) available to help find missing persons, but not so good to see that it is very expensive to hire these experts. Most families cannot afford to do this.
- Allison was enslaved for more than a month; I would have liked to see the effect it had on her “friends” when they learned her story. Though I know that we cannot tell the whole story in a film which lasted less than two hours.
- Trusting the untrustworthy – one of the abductors even managed to deceive his Gramma, as she thought he was such a good boy as we saw him drop her off at her home after attending church with her.
- Exploiting the loopholes – Not only does this film point out the sexual exploitation of humans it also shows how the abductors can easily exploit the law enforcement agencies as it is apparent that the agencies do not have the resources to investigate and locate the victims of trafficking, bring them to safety and bring abductors to justice.
- Nearly one million women and girls are taken into sex slavery in the USA today: generating more than thirty billion dollars annually.
Notes and Cautions
This film contains many things that make it only appropriate for parentally guided viewing, including:
- violence (abduction, assault weapons used by private investigators, inappropriate use of a handgun)
- resistance to authority
- scantily dressed young girls and men
- sexual content
- explicit language
- illegal drug use and alcohol abuse
- apparent animal cruelty
- much unsupervised social media interaction
Overall Recommendation
“Trafficked” is a film that can be used to educate parents and teens of the true and atrocious reality of the things that lure people into the human (slavery) trafficking rings. This is not a film that I would recommend teens watch alone; they should watch it with parents and/or other adults. This might even be a film that is presented by leadership in schools and churches with the permission of parents. But first, warn the parents that there are many things in this film that are disturbing and inappropriate as noted in the “Notes and Cautions” section of my review above. Teaching young people and adults what to look for to identify trafficking schemes is key to avoiding and even stopping this horrendous crime. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation offers some resources on the Trafficked website here: https://traffickedfilm.com/ (click on the Resources tab). Look, be aware and share!
Disclosure: Many thanks to Collide Distribution for providing this product/product information for review. Opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post. Read my full DISCLOSURE POLICY.
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