A film about the attempts of young woman sold as a prostitute by her boyfriend to hold on to her sanity and her identity as her captors attempt to break her. Her name is Mariola, but the men who buy her inform her that her name is Justine.
The film, shot in Luxembourg, is set in Berlin, and has its dialogues in Polish, English, and German. It begins with Mariola's boyfriend, Artur, suggesting that they travel to Cologne, Germany from Poland to visit his family. Before the trip, he takes pictures of her including one with her grandmother with whom she lives.
Moriola lies to her grandmother saying that there is a group which will be taking the trip. Her grandmother asks if Artur is a part of the group, and when Mariola confirms that he is, her grandmother remarks that Mariola's mother trusted blokes too much. Before she leaves home though, Mariola leaves a letter for her grandmother letting her know that there is no group, and that only she and Artur are going on the trip.
At the border, a guard asks Mariola whether she is Russian, possibly in recognition that many prostituted women are Russian. However, she says that she is from Poland, and after checking her passport, which by then appears to already be in Artur's custody, he lets them through. Artur claims that he wants to spend the night in Berlin at a friend's place because Cologne is 600 miles away, and convinces Mariola to agree. When they reach the "friend's" apartment, a woman with a baby greets them. It's clear that Mariola is uncomfortable but Artur convinces her to stay, and then, when a man portrayed as the woman's husband comes home, Artur sells Mariola to him along with her passport, her address and a picture of her grandmother.
The last scene in the house appears to be one of the woman who let Mariola and Artur in attempting to quieten the baby as three men rape Mariola. Thereafter, her captors begin to condition her to be a prostitute.
What was surprising was that the version of the film I saw had a UA rating. I'm not sure whether that was because the film had nothing explicit in it or because it had been edited so as to make it "suitable for family viewing" as is done so often in India. If it was edited, so as to sanitise it, I can't help but wonder if the edited film could have been considered to remain honest. And if the film had been edited so as to detract from its honesty, and its ability to portray reality, I'm uncertain whether it is ethical to sanitise what is the experience of thousands of women merely for the sake of making the gruesome palatable for public consumption.
Addendum, 2014:
What's in a Name?
‘A name is the first and final marker of individual rights, one fixed part of the ever-changing human world. A name is the most basic characteristic of our human rights; no matter how poor or how rich, all living people have a name, and it is endowed with good wishes, the expectant blessings of kindness and virtue.’
— Ai Weiwei
[Source: Text Technologies]
The film, shot in Luxembourg, is set in Berlin, and has its dialogues in Polish, English, and German. It begins with Mariola's boyfriend, Artur, suggesting that they travel to Cologne, Germany from Poland to visit his family. Before the trip, he takes pictures of her including one with her grandmother with whom she lives.
Moriola lies to her grandmother saying that there is a group which will be taking the trip. Her grandmother asks if Artur is a part of the group, and when Mariola confirms that he is, her grandmother remarks that Mariola's mother trusted blokes too much. Before she leaves home though, Mariola leaves a letter for her grandmother letting her know that there is no group, and that only she and Artur are going on the trip.
At the border, a guard asks Mariola whether she is Russian, possibly in recognition that many prostituted women are Russian. However, she says that she is from Poland, and after checking her passport, which by then appears to already be in Artur's custody, he lets them through. Artur claims that he wants to spend the night in Berlin at a friend's place because Cologne is 600 miles away, and convinces Mariola to agree. When they reach the "friend's" apartment, a woman with a baby greets them. It's clear that Mariola is uncomfortable but Artur convinces her to stay, and then, when a man portrayed as the woman's husband comes home, Artur sells Mariola to him along with her passport, her address and a picture of her grandmother.
The last scene in the house appears to be one of the woman who let Mariola and Artur in attempting to quieten the baby as three men rape Mariola. Thereafter, her captors begin to condition her to be a prostitute.
What was surprising was that the version of the film I saw had a UA rating. I'm not sure whether that was because the film had nothing explicit in it or because it had been edited so as to make it "suitable for family viewing" as is done so often in India. If it was edited, so as to sanitise it, I can't help but wonder if the edited film could have been considered to remain honest. And if the film had been edited so as to detract from its honesty, and its ability to portray reality, I'm uncertain whether it is ethical to sanitise what is the experience of thousands of women merely for the sake of making the gruesome palatable for public consumption.
Addendum, 2014:
What's in a Name?
‘A name is the first and final marker of individual rights, one fixed part of the ever-changing human world. A name is the most basic characteristic of our human rights; no matter how poor or how rich, all living people have a name, and it is endowed with good wishes, the expectant blessings of kindness and virtue.’
— Ai Weiwei
[Source: Text Technologies]