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Visitors Review

igor-115 2012-05-16 12:35:12

American ignorance have no limits!!

I wish that somebody in Balkans makes movie about USA and casts frenchactors who only speak french.Wanting to tell such strong story and notbeing able to even get the language of the people who are the subjectof it right?So ignorant!!And tells you how much they actually caredabout those people.I didn't watch past 10 minutes mark cause insults meand every other person coming from ex-Yugoslavia,I would like to send amessage to all uneducated movie directors:we don't speak Romanian,wedon't speak Russian or any of the east European languages so pleasedon't make movies about us if you have no decency enough to at leastget your facts right.Shameful!!!!

heszyfilm 2012-05-15 23:06:40

Difficult yet important story

The previous reviewer obviously didn't know that this is a true story.The specific victims were fictionalized, but the overall story of whatwas happening and what Rachel Wiesz's character went through are true.They are not a contrived, or "generic" "CSI" story.That said, as a movie, Whistleblower delivers in telling about thisdifficultand important event. Some of the scenes were hard to watch,but, as the director mentioned at the Q&A after the screening I saw, itwas just scratching the surface of what was going on. VanessaRedgrave's character, though her scenes were relatively brief, reallyshined. I appreciated that the cinematography didn't involve any fancystyles or overly dramatic music. The director let the impact of thestory itself, and Rachel Wiesz's fine acting, carry the movie.

vsaxena-205-303116 2012-05-11 10:02:13

"Immunity, Not Impunity."

The type of odious life form I most despise in this world is the sextrafficker--that soulless man or woman who profits off the abuse andtorture of women. Even sadder though are all the good men and women whoremain silent as evil thrives all around them. This movie features thevery opposite type of person, as it chronicles an extraordinary womanwho courageously stands up for the truth, despite the numerousobstacles in her way.Enter Kathryn Bolkovac, an American police officer who signs up to be aU.N. International Police Force monitor in Bosnia a couple years afterthe signing of the Dayton Agreement. The country was in a state ofdisrepair, and so international forces were required to maintain orderand facilitate investigations.In the film, which portrays a fictional account of Kathryn's struggles,she soon meets Raya, a 15-year-old runaway sexual slave who wastrafficked into Bosnia from the Ukraine by her aunt's boyfriend. But toher utter shock and dismay, Kathryn discovers that everybody is in onthe sexual trafficking business, including the Bosnian police, many ofher colleagues and even international figures of prominence.She convinces Raya to testify against the bar owner / pimp who managedher and to identify those UN peacekeepers who paid for sex, but beforeRaya can speak in court, she is abducted again, and then tortured.Despite diligent attempts to subvert these heinous crimes, Kathryncontinually comes up short, blocked at every attempt by members ofDynCorp, the private military contractor, aka private corporation, thathired her.The traffickers subsequently kill Raya, and DynCorp opts to terminateKathryn from her position after she sends an email to the CEO whereinshe explicitly details all that she has heard and witnessed.Thankfully, with the help of British policeman Richard Monk and thehead of the UN Human Rights Commission, Madeline Rees, Kathryn iseventually able to expose DynCorp to the general public.Sadly, in real life, practically nothing happened after the story hitthe headline news. DynCorp released those employees accused ofparticipating in the sexual trade, but not a single one wasprosecuted--even those officers who originated from the United States.To this day, DynCorp continues to receive billions in dollars from ourbeloved government, despite the fact that the conduct of theiremployees hasn't changed a single bit.God bless governments and private corporations, aye?

collipal-1 2012-05-10 22:10:53

An excellent but depressing film

The Whistleblower is an excellent film, but it left me depressed.However, its message is undoubtedly important and I think that itdefinitely deserves an enthusiastic recommendation, not exactly as anentertainment, but as a testimony of a horrible situation which isunfortunately extended all around the world, even though the story fromthe film is set in Serbia and Bosnia. Which one of so many possibleatrocities does The Whistleblower deal with? The human trafficking; andeven though it does not offer solutions (probably because they don'texist), it at least brings us new reasons to feel ashamed of the humangenre.Having established the importance of the message expressed by TheWhistleblower, I will proceed to focus myself into its manycinematographic attributes. The screenplay is fascinating, and it keptme in suspense the whole time, because even though it does not have thestructure from a traditional thriller, the crusade undertaken by themain character demands a strong emotional response; and as well as weshare her hope of a positive solution, we also feel her frustrationwhen she faces the constant obstacles she finds from the mafia, thebureaucracy and even the enslaved young women, who are too scared inorder to testify against their captors. The only thing I can sayagainst this film is that the screenplay should have explored a bitmore some of the subjects it deals with.Rachel Weisz brings a great performance in the leading role from TheWhistleblower, due to the wide range of emotions she perfectlyexpresses with her character. Vanessa Redgrave, Monica Bellucci, DavidStrathairn, Roxana Condurache, Paula Schramm and Nicolaj Lie Kass alsobring perfect works. So, in conclusion, The Whistleblower is a hard butbrilliant movie whose finality is not amusing us for a while, butillustrating us about a sad reality which is lived by millions ofpeople every day. I guess that it is difficult to think about that whenwe have our own problems (which are undoubtedly minor, even though theyaffect us daily), but that apathy is exactly what companies likeDynCorp need in order to enrich themselves at the expense of the humanmisery. Even though I think that exactly the same can be said about anygovernment.

indevu 2012-05-09 16:37:02

Exciting and meaningful

Based on true events, The Whistleblower focuses on an American policeofficer (Rachel Weisz) who takes a job as a peace keeper in Bosnia anduncovers a human sex trafficking ring. In her efforts to seek justicefor the young victims she uncovers corruption in the diplomaticcommunity.Because it is based on true events and covers some pretty heavy topics,this is an action movie that actually has a message and some plotdepth. It's a nice combination for people who like action films becauseyou get that entertainment value that comes from a tense suspensefulaction film without it resorting to contrived plot lines. I enjoyed it.Three reasons you should watch it: 1. An intense plot that keeps youengaged. 2. Brings to light some important social issues withoutfeeling preachy or like a documentary. 3. Rachel Weisz gives a greatperformance.One thing you might not like: The story line and characters are alittle hard to keep up with at times - it covers a lot of ground andaddresses a lot of people's involvement. I know that voice-overnarration is often viewed as a cheap Also, it is worth pointing outthat several scenes of torture/rape may make some viewersuncomfortable.

constantineboleyn 2012-05-09 01:45:55

Oscar? I don't think so!

I'm from Belgrade, Serbia. It is not important at all but I wanted tosay that... I really needed an intelligent movie like ''Whistleblower''this summer. It's well-crafted story, with stunning performance ofRachel Weisz. She's superb. Keeps you on the edge of your seat to thevery end. Human, but not false - very real on the contrary. And yes,it's Oscar worthy performance! (Of course, there will be Meryl, Glenn,Keira...) But, this movie is such a slap to America, to the UN, toDemocra. So I bet... I BET!, Rachel wouldn't be nominated for the A.Award. Do you remember ''Avatar - The Hurt Locker story''? Well, it'sthe same!

AudioFileZ 2012-05-05 22:55:43

Where Few Dare To Tread...

With billions of dollars behind "peace keeping" in torn countries likeBosnia it is a given that there will be needed order, albeit withcorruption. Paid handsomely, low-level people, workers in thesecountries are seen by their corporate employers as necessary "grunts"getting the day-to-day work done and silently bank their tax freeearnings. For the most part that bet seems an easy way for these powersto amass wealth while enacting little real change. Their small roles,big paydays, combined with the quite dangerous, hardly glamorous hardlife they lead, usually, silence them for a quick in and out period ofemployment without any ripple to the system .Sometimes unforeseen events do occur, mostly, they too can becontained. Few with purely idealistic goals survive any length of timein such an environment. These "troublemakers" can be summarilydismissed in obscurity. In relatively few cases there arises a mostunlikely character who somehow, in spite of his/her relativepowerlessness, rises and threatens to "shake" things up. "TheWhistleblower" tells the story of one such person, who against theforces that be, exposed the complicity of the UN Peace Keeping Forcesand a "Blackwaterish" private contractor in turning a blind eye torampant human trafficking while, supposedly, returning Bosnia to order.This isn't a surprise that stretches one's imagination; yet, the factthat billions of tax payer's dollars supported this should outrage anymoral being.Kathryn Bolkovac, a divorced former Nebraska policewoman, needs to makeenough money to be able to finance a move to Georgia so she can beclose to her two children who are in the custody of their father. Shesees the job in Bosnia her best bet to succeed in that goal while,hopefully, working in the realm of law enforcement which she enjoys.Kathryn, played by Rachel Weisz, becomes aware of sizable numbers ofEuropean young women being forced into prostitution in Bosnia. Thelocal arm of it seems to be run out of an outlying bar called TheFlorida Bar. It is common knowledge, yet the locals turn a blind eye.She immediately seeks a witness who will help her to use the legalsystem to prosecute those involved; to save these young girls andreturn them to their families. Kathryn soon realizes it will be abattle as The UN administrators, save one Madeliene Rees, do not wantto get involved. What ensues is a harrowing story of one woman's "neversay never" attitude as she goes up against The UN, governments, andprivate contractors who have a vested interest in dealing with otherproblems instead. If Kathryn wants to live and make it back to her kidsshe has to decide if the outcome is worth the risk. These are bigstakes with such negative repercussions most workers would, likely,choose the route these other organizations have chosen. Not Kathryn.This movie is anything but a grandstanding commercialized depictiontailored for mass movie audience consumption. The Whistleblower is verydirect and economical in bringing to light the struggle waged byKathryn. While being a Canadian production it is world class in bothwriting and filming. You feel the danger and the hopelessness that hassurrounded Bosnia since civil war brought total chaos. Rachel Weiszperforms at a level we've yet to see her achieve as the viewer feelsthe presence of a very real Kathryn Bolkovac's frustration andheartache. As the story builds the stakes, naturally, get higher. Whenit seems Kathryn's persistence will finally enact the freedom of thegirls and the exposure of corruption she gets fired. No longer enjoyingdiplomatic immunity she is even threatened with the very legal systemshe sought to use to end this evilness. She risks her own freedom,which other than life's breath itself, is all she has left. At thispoint she teams up with a sympathetic UN executive; the only oneMadeliene Rees implicitly trusts within The UN to be of any help. Thetwo fool the corporate peace keeping organizations point man enablingKathryn to flee Bosnia along with the police records that were toexpose the corruption, but had been closed by mysterious forces. Youneed to see this movie as you will summon a very real-life outrage bythings you had no way of knowing your tax dollars were financing.I repeat "The Whistleblower" does not grandstand, but tells itcompletely straight with great realism. Everything works, thesingularly amazing performance of Rachel Weisz, the perfect co-starringroles of Vanessa Redgrave as Madeleine Rees, and the very low-key partof the UN executive conspirator played superbly by the great characteractor David Strathairn. Cinematography is suitably stark, gray, andhopeless, combined with the script, the location, and the performanceswe have a very palatable synergism. After seeing the movie the viewerwants to know even more, not the least of which is due to the factualaftermath revealed in the closing. Very powerful movie-making, a mustsee.

markpollock-1 2012-05-05 06:34:46

An extremely accurate, powerful film

I worked for the State Department in Bosnia for two years not longafter the peace agreement. I had no knowledge of the sex trafficking.So I am not qualified to speak to the veracity of how it was presented.But because everything else shown in the film is so extremely accurate,I have to believe that is as well. The scenes, the people, thelanguage, the attitudes, the buildings, the clothing, the vehicles,everything. Indeed, this is one of the most realistic movies I haveever seen. It is almost documentary-like but with superb acting. Eachperformer provides a brilliant portrayal. Congratulations to Ms. Kondracki, Ms. Weisz, Mr. Potocean, Ms.Condurache, all the cast and to everyone who made this film possible. Ihope this is but the first of many films for Ms. Kondracki. I doubt ifthere have been more than a very few directors whose first film is ofthis quality. Thank you and good luck to everybody who was involved inthis very special and vitally important movie.

Tony Heck 2012-04-29 19:25:00

A very emotional but long and slow true story about a former cop who uncovered a sex trafficking ring in Bosnia. I say B-

"I am a police officer obligated to report crimes. I have takenstatements from women describing their physical, psychological &emotional torture." A true story about Kathryn Bolkovac (Weisz), a copfrom Nebraska who takes a job as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia. Whenshe uncovers a sex trafficking ring she tries to get the word out. Whenshe realizes that it is being covered up by the U.N. & State departmentshe has more to worry about then Bosnian rebels. This is a hard movieto review. On one hand it is very emotional and hard to watch in someparts. The subject matter and the fact that it is true makes you angrywhile watching it. On the other hand it is a very slow moving moviethat is at times hard to get through. I'm not saying it's not good butit is a rough movie to watch for more then one reason. I would compareit to the "Constant Gardner" in that aspect. It has a heavy subjectmatter but seems to take a long time to make it's point. Overall, agood but long movie that is worth watching if you can handle it. I giveit a B-.

jpurits-604-559217 2012-04-29 05:01:09

A good movie with an IMPORTANT story to tell.

Sure the production values could have been better, but I am sure thismovie did not have the biggest budget either. I thought Weisz, Redgrave and Strathairn gave good performances.But,most of all, what I liked was the raw feel of this movie, perhapsdue to it's smaller budget, and the fact that it had a very importantstory to tell (a true story).I can not comprehend people complaining, in their reviews, regardingthe languages spoken. Who cares ? Obviously they cared more aboutaesthetics than the actual story. Even with all it's flaws, it is a very entertaining, although sad,movie. It actually prompted me to do some research on DynCorp, KBR andBlackwater , 3 of the security contractors getting billions of $ fromour governments while committing countless crimes around the world. So,I guess, in that respect, the movie has worked and got it's pointacross. Good to see a movie that actually gets your passion andemotions flowing, even if it is outrage.

Rockwell_Fassbender 2012-04-28 04:49:32

A smart and gripping political thriller.

These days it's become a rarity to find a political thriller that isintelligent, intense and intriguing. So when one like The Whistleblowercomes along, I find no trouble in treasuring every moment of it. RachelWeisz stars as the titular pot-boiler who uncovers a sex traffickingring while working as a peacekeeper in Bosnia. Based on a true story,she turns over some dirty rocks and a lot of people start to get veryangry. This leads to a very tense race to discover the truth and findsomeone willing to help her bring down these horrible men before theyget to her. There's a subplot with Monica Bellucci's character that isa little dull and eventually inconsequential, but when the Weisz sideof things is so gripping, it's easy to look past.The story here is strong and every moment, especially in the final act,breathes with a wicked intensity that keeps you on your toes, but thereal driving force of the film is Weisz. For some reason it seems likeit's pretty hard for films to present female characters who are strongand firm in their beliefs without turning them into unbearablestereotypes. This year though we've experienced an influx of great onesthat come off as genuine human beings and Weisz's Kathryn Bolkavac isanother to add to the list. Especially given the fact that she plays awoman who is being constantly attacked and undermined by everyonearound her, a role that opens itself up to melodramatic hystericspretty easily. Weisz had to hit this balance of strength and brokenhopelessness without going too far to make it unrealistic, and she hitsevery note necessary.There's one scene later in the film that really stands as a measure tothe power of her performance. Bolkavac gets within an inch of freeingthese girls and exposing the truth, when out of nowhere the rug ispulled out from under her and things look worse than ever. She burstsinto tears, desperate for some way out of this situation; everythingshe was fighting for was right in her grasp and she just gets it rippedout of her hand like two kids fighting over a toy on Christmas. Thismoment would have been difficult for most actors, but Weisz has maturedinto one of our finest performers and she doesn't phase for a second.She could have easily slipped into unintentionally comedic melodramabut instead she brings down the house and almost brought a tear to myeye. It's a devastating moment in one of the strongest, most commandingperformances of the year so far. A superb performance in a taut,intelligent thriller.

Daniel Meersman 2012-04-27 10:33:01

skip it if you know ANYTHING about the Balkans

Awful to see that it didn't occur to anyone to hire 1 Bosnian for amovie that's supposed to be in "Bosnia" (the set looks rather like anawkward mix between Canada and Czech Republic). The movie is full withCzechs, Russians and Romanians talking some weird mix of Bosnian andtheir own native languages. It damages the credibility of the movie somuch. For any person that knows the region and language this movie isinsulting. I couldn't stand watching it for over 20 minutes. I heard from my wifethat much later on in the movie Sergej Trifunovic does appear shortlyshouting some insults in Bosnian (wow, an actor that actually speaksthe local language), but nevertheless, I was not interested incontinuing to watch. I now checked it, Trifunovic is the ONLY person inthe entire cast which speaks the local language. Shameful.Believe me, not all people in the Balkans-Eastern Europe-Russia are thesame. How about to make a movie with Russian actors playing Americansduring the events of 9/11, and film it Shangai? Doubt it would looknatural. Unless we have them say some insults in some Texas redneckslang maybe? Hmmm, no, I still doubt the American public would beconvinced.Pity. I bet the movie could be interesting for anyone who doesn't knowanything about the region. Rachel Weisz is a great actress, her talentseems wasted on movies such as this one.

vross2000 2012-04-25 18:41:51

Dark film ...Not plot but lighting

I do not know if it was the print or the film was filmed like that.Sawit at a lousy theater AMC on 42nd St not the best place to see anindependent film. I could hardly make out the characters it was sodark.Some scenes were totally missed as it was pitch black. And at whenend when Vanessa Redgrave has a chat with Rachel did not understand oneword. Of course no one around to correct if it was the projector. Gotmy money back but really wanted to enjoy the film. I think it was agood plot,good acting and great to see a film about anotherwhistleblower but by the words at the end nothing happened to theguilty and intimated the same is going on in Iraq and wherever we fireguns

Harry T. Yung 2012-04-25 08:10:06

Oscar-worthy Rachel Weisz

This gutsy dramatization of the story of Nebraska police officerKathryn Bolkovac (Rachel Weisz) starts with a cryptic introduction ofher predicament, as one of the few divorced woman with custody of thedaughter awarded to the husband (the movie hasn't explained why but theex-husband did make some comments to the effect of her being "marriedto her job"). In order to be closer to her daughter, she strove to geta transfer to Atlanta, without much luck, until an offer came – a dealthat she be posted first to Bosnia for a six-month U.N. peacekeepingassignment.Her initial experience was one of frustration, witnessing how peoplewho were supposed to help really did not care – "Bosnia, specializes infxxx-ups" as one co-worker quipped. To most of these people,complicated racial makeup and long-harboured hatreds were too much todisentangle. Steadfastly loyal to her job, she helped win aracial-prejudiced case in court, which brought a promotion to head adepartment in the U.N. Gender Affairs Office. This, unfortunately, wasonly the beginning of a nightmare.Raid of a local bar unveiled corruption in the form of protection moneyto harbour prostitution. But this was only the tip of an iceberg. Whatstarted as an investigation of one or two corrupted officers turned outto be a David-and-Goliath fight against people in high places who,rather than just harbouring prostitution, condoned full scale sextrafficking by all kinds of people with authority and diplomaticimmunity.In many ways, this movie is similar to "Fair game" (2010), anotherrecent true-story based movie. People at high places have lost theirfundamental sense of right and wrong, serving an animal called"political necessity". In both cases, the protagonist promisedprotection to civilians to obtain their co-operation, only to end inbitter remorse when they found that they were powerless to deliver theprotections they gallantly promised.But there were also differences. In "Fair Game", the protagonist triedto bend to avoid breaking, before finally fighting back. But when shefinally did, the audience was awarded with the satisfaction that poeticjustice exists not only in fiction, but also in real life (sometimes),as the movie ends with a clipping of the real person's opening addressin the enquiry where she blew the whistle (and at least one of therouges was jailed, we learned in the movie). In "The whistleblower",exposing the case through the British media did not result in anyprosecution. Some people were brought back from Bosnia, but wereprobably reassigned to other places such as Iraq where they couldpresumably continue with their hideous crime.While there are some dramatized thriller elements, the movie is toughto watch and depressing to emerge from. Yet, the fact that the moviehas been made and is watched by millions of people around the word is apositive note. Weisz in this movie has taken her performance even onenotch higher than in Agora (2009) and has been tipped for an Oscarnomination, or even win. She deserves at least a nomination. While thisis mainly her show, there is an absolutely first class support castincluding Vanessa Redgrave and David Strathairn, portraying her twotrue allies in a sea of enemies. Monica Bellucci played an unpleasantcharacter, not exactly a villain, but a rigid bureaucrat who placesrules and regulations way above human compassion. This is a somewhatout-of-character role for voluptuous Bullucci and my guess is that shetakes on the role as one in a movie with a worthy cause.

David Ferguson 2012-04-22 13:45:50

I'm Not Like You

Greetings again from the darkness. Emotional exhaustion swept over meas this film came to an end. Based on the true experiences of KathrynBolkovac, we see what a true hero is. She absolutely refused to turnaway from the despicable actions of her co-workers and governmentofficials.Rachel Weisz delivers what is far and away her best performance yet.She captures the emotional complexity and strength that Ms. Bolkovacdisplayed. Some have stated she was conflicted, but I never saw that. Isaw the character of a woman who had a clear understanding of right andwrong ... and would settle for nothing less than "right".Kathryn, a Nebraska cop, accepts a UN peacekeeping job in post-warBosnia. Her spirit and strength is recognized, and rewarded withpromotion, by Madeleine Rees (Vanessa Redgrave) who is director of theHuman Rights Commission. It is in this job where she slowly uncoversthe corruption and cover-up of sex trafficking of underage girls. Evenmore sickening is that this most profitable business is being run bythe peacekeepers and law officers being paid to protect these citizens.It turns out that though Ms. Bolkovac was fighting for these humanrights of these girls, she was also working diligently to expose thecorruption of the private contractors hired to supply personnel in allaspects of recovery in countries such as Bosnia. In her situation, theprivate contractor was DynCorp and she had no problem pulling back thecurtain on the lack of training and control exhibited by this and othercontractors.Combine that with the frustrations in dealing with bureaucrats such asMonica Bellucci's character, it often feels as if Ms. Bolkovac isfighting a one woman crusade (with a little help from DavidStrathairn's character). When red tape (such as no passport for theabused girls) and diplomatic immunity become major players in fendingoff her efforts, we get the wonderful line "immunity not impunity".That explains a great deal.The film is directed by first timer Larysa Kondracki. Setting and toneis well captured, but the editing of many scenes left me somewhatdistracted, but not to the point of annoyance. There is so much tensionand exposure to despicable actions in this film that I found itdifficult to relax afterward. The strength and courage of this womanwill restore your faith in humanity and remind us we should never turnaway from doing the right thing.

Maverick Wayne 2012-04-22 08:52:46

Shockingly Sad

Human Trafficking..! So crooked and contagious.. vividly portrayed inthis great movie. As you have noted in the Synopsis, this moviehighlights one woman against the whole system of Bureaucrats on variouslevels. I wonder what made the Balkan nations to resort to this inhumandealings with aid of Private Peace monitoring groups.Rachel Weisz gives a powerful portrayal of a US Police Officer draftedto Sarajevo UN Gender Officer. Her emotions are pretty restrained; nononsense over-the-top histrionics;very measured portrayal indeed.Some of the scenes are too horrific in nature and the perpetrators arereally not born out of human mothers but some insignificant animals ithink. Its a landmark movie which casts a doubt on what the privateorganizations and especially the UN are really doing out there in thoseregions. Then again its kind of another deal or business where laws arebent and compromised to personal gains and pleasures.Poor Russian girls.. Portrayal of them in these flicks (watch.. LilyaForever!) makes us wonder what have they done to deserve these inhumanpunishments..

khan2705 2012-04-20 19:14:17

Weisz's performance is the strength of this movie.

This ripped-from-the-headlines thriller is inspired by actual events.Kathy Bolkovac (Rachel Weisz) is a Nebraskan police officer who takes ajob working as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia. Her expectations ofhelping to rebuild a devastated country are dashed when she uncovers adangerous reality of corruption, cover-up and intrigue amid a world ofprivate contractors and multinational diplomatic doubletalkStarring, Rachel Weisz, Vanessa Redgrave, Monica Bellucci, DavidStrathairn, Nikolaj Lie Kaas , Roxana Condurache , Paula Schramm ,Alexandru Potocean , William Hope , Rayisa Kondracki , Jeanette Hain ,Benedict Cumberbatch , David Hewlett , Coca Bloos , Luke Treadaway ,Liam Cunningham , Anna Anissimova , Anca Androne , Sergej Trifunovic ,Vlad Ivanov.Directed by Larysa Kondracki.i love it when i catch movies unexpectedly without making anyPre-Plans. i saw it a few days ago but wasn't able to review it. icaught this movie exclusively on TV and was happy because i wanted tosee it. how they handle this subject matter because it something thatis and have been happening and is very painful to hear and see about.i won't however call it a perfect flawless movie. i rated it this highfor Rachel Weisz's performance and for the fact that this story havebeen shown. it is a bit like Documentary feel like we are followingcharacter Kathryn Bolkovac on her investigations and her struggle tosave the girls and reveal the corrupt and cover up people in her field.it is just a one time watch and something that you won't regretwatching.Directed well enough though i thought somethings were missing, couldhave been better. Screenplay was nice but doesn't maintain a perfectmomentum. cinematography is good.Rachel Weisz gives a good and powerful performance. though not the bestthis year but certainly one of the best because i don't remember muchgood performance right now, they are yet to come. but she was good anddid a nice job portraying this character. she is the strength of movie.Vanessa Redgrave and David Strathairn were okay. and i am not a bigMonica Bellucci fan.i won't call it a very thought provoking movie but it was just a aboveaverage movie that benefits a lot from the Rachel Weisz's performanceand worth the subject matter that otherwise i think wasn't handled andutilize that well. and i have nothing against anything. it reminds usthat there are still people like Kathryn who stands against anythingbad that is happening thinking about nothing else and fighting for whats right in this otherwise sleepy world.

Urantia 2012-04-20 00:46:43

A Good Example of a Bad Exploitation Film

This movie is a good example of a bad exploitation film. The graphicaldepictions of violence were totally unnecessary. Great movie makershave learned that it is usually best to show less so that audienceswill think more while amateur hacks leave nothing to the imagination oftheir viewers except the occasional need to imaginatively findsomething close at hand to use as a barf bag. All of these disgustinglyrepulsive scenes of physical torture and emotional abuse were includedonly to shock and nauseate us not to educate or enlighten us especiallysince they weren't condensed scenes but rather appeared to beintentionally prolonged as though to extend the sadistic torturing ofthe audience. Some people might try and justify the inclusion of thesegrotesquely distasteful scenes by claiming that people need to see whatis really going on in order to change things. I heartily disagree. Do Ineed to see a snuff film to know that murdering another human being ismorally wrong? No. And if I did want to watch the lingering shadow ofdeath stripping bodies of all signs of life, all I need to do is watchCNN's coverage of the atrocities going on in Syria (today is 3-12-12)where some homicidal maniac continues to ruthlessly slaughter innocentmen, women and children who are the very citizens he has a sacredobligation as their leader to safeguard and protect! And thissystematic destruction of blameless victims of mass homicide goes onday after day while the entire impotent world (including the impotentUnited Nations) stands by blindly twiddling their bureaucratic thumbsand counting up the murder-stained mountains of tear-stained corpses!Didn't we learn anything from Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Chelmno,Majdanek, Sobibor, and Treblinka where the incarnation of evil wasallowed to thrive until it reached the magnitude that it did or will weconstruct a memorial one day for the Syrian death camps that were builtwhile the world watched in silence and did nothing?! What started out as a review for this movie wound up being a review ofsomething else. I haven't forgotten the victims of sex slavery thatthis movie reminded me about (even though I don't approve of thetactics they used to get their point across). And if I was Rambo, Iknow what I would do about it. But I'm not Rambo.

Ali M 2012-04-17 09:02:09

Worth to watch

The movie uncovers some truths which anybody wont feel better on seeingthis.It shows the ugly side of UN and the peace keepers.Rachel weiszdid a phenomenal acting. i strongly recommend to watch it to see theugly truth of the peacemakers. For the director its a nice debut and abold one. i guess Rachel weisz would get an Oscar nomination for thisrole.Sex trafficking in war beaten country and on those people whomthey are supposed to protect were their to rape and sexually torturethem.i don't know what really happened there and what are the real dealis but this movie is a glimpse of what would happened.if i am not wrongi can expect these kind of activities in other war affected countries,where these contractors and peace keepers went.

napierslogs 2012-04-17 01:58:53

Uncovering corruption by breaking one law at a time

Kathryn Bolkovac (Rachel Weisz) is "The Whistleblower." Exposing thecorruption in the U.N., and international and local Bosnian policecorps when she uncovers human trafficking of teenage girls. Apeace-keeping American police officer sent to Bosnia after the war, shetakes her job of "investigating crimes and reporting wrong-doing"seriously. What her job actually is, isn't very clear.For as much chaos that is occurring during this time, the film takes avery clerical approach. One scene establishing the crimes beinginflicted on these young girls, one scene establishing that Kathryn isthe mother of a teenage daughter, and one scene establishing that sheneeds money to be able to move closer to her ex-husband and children.And then ta-da, she's in Bosnia making lots of money as the head of adepartment on gender equality. I don't mean to imply that that's a goodthing for her, just that Hollywood has a way of making every story neatand tidy — too neat and tidy.This is a tough story because what is occurring to these girls is toographic and upsetting to tell or to make a movie out of. The smart movewas making this movie about Kathryn and less about the girls. We don'tget emotionally invested until Kathryn has formed a connection with oneof the girls, and by then we already know what is happening to them.The plot description that this is a political thriller with "privatecontractors and multinational diplomatic doubletalk" makes it soundit's a nonsense plot with lots of characters and twists just to makesure that you realize that it is smarter than you are. Thankfully, it'snot that bad. There are too many characters, but what is going on andwhat Kathryn needs to get done are very straight-forward.I just don't really understand the need to have Kathryn not evenunderstand that there is going to be protocol that should be followedat times. Surely there is a way to uncover illegal corruption withoutcommitting so many laws yourself? I believe there is a way, but toHollywood it would just be too boring. So "The Whistleblower" is madeto be just as exciting as the crimes are horrific, which can leave youa little detached from reality.