Kathryn Bolkovac, une policière du Nebraska qui a servi comme gardienne de la paix dans la Bosnie d'après-guerre, dénonce l'ONU pour avoir dissimulé un scandale de trafic sexuel.Kathryn Bolkovac, une policière du Nebraska qui a servi comme gardienne de la paix dans la Bosnie d'après-guerre, dénonce l'ONU pour avoir dissimulé un scandale de trafic sexuel.Kathryn Bolkovac, une policière du Nebraska qui a servi comme gardienne de la paix dans la Bosnie d'après-guerre, dénonce l'ONU pour avoir dissimulé un scandale de trafic sexuel.
- Récompenses
- 8 victoires et 10 nominations au total
- Zoe
- (as Anna Anissimova)
Histoire
Le saviez-vous
- AnecdotesKathryn Bolkovac, the woman on whose real life experiences the film is based, sold the rights to her story to director Larysa Kondracki for $100.
- GaffesWhen Kathryn is asked to return her ID at the HQ, her right-side shirt collar is unfolded. When she is escorted, the collar is folded again, and in the next shot it is the left-side collar that is unfolded.
- Citations
Kathryn Bolkovac: [email to authorities] We are peacekeepers who came to protect the innocent, but now prey upon them in the worst ways possible. We may be accused of thinking with our hearts instead of our heads, but we will have our humanity.
- ConnexionsFeatured in Maltin on Movies: Man on a Ledge (2012)
- Bandes originalesVONHA (War)
Written by Anatoli Krupnov (as Anatoly Krupnov), Vasily Bilishotsky and Vladimir Ermakov
Performed by Black Obelisk
Courtesy of CD-Maximum
For six months of her time and $100,000, Kathryn was to monitor the local Sarajevo police and advise them on proper police procedures. Very quickly, she discovers the word monitor means turn a blind eye as Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks abuse whatever power they have to continue a sort of undeclared war on each other. The Serb policemen will not investigate or prosecute domestic violence cases, especially if the woman is Muslim. Kathryn successfully leads Bosnia's first case against domestic violence earning her a more visible job as the department head for gender affairs.
Now her scope includes far more than standard local police issues. Young Eastern European and Russian girls are turning up on the streets and shelters looking severely assaulted and sexually abused. To her shock and dismay, Kathryn learns that United Nations employees from all nations are not only the girls' customers, but frequently aid local human traffickers in their transport and have an interest in holding the girls against their will.
Nobody in any position of authority ever raises their hand for a scandal, so all of Kathryn's investigations and findings are swept under the rug and she is ostracized from the rest of her compatriots who are either not interested in obtaining justice for the girls or believe so much in bureaucracy and paperwork that they sometimes send the girls right back to their rapists. On Kathryn's side is the High Commissioner for Human Rights rep played by Vanessa Redgrave and an internal affairs agent played by David Strathairn.
Frequently, the subject matter and scenes of girls undergoing sexual abuse and torture are stomach churning. The film can be relentless at times showing various punishments and cruelty. Human trafficking, especially if it involves a trusted world organization and its sleazy contractors, is an extremely important subject to cover and make films about; therefore, be ready to adjust uncomfortably in your seats as you watch downright disgusting and brutal activities perpetrated against teenage girls.
The Whistleblower deserves applause for bringing to light the company Democra which still carries out government contracts to this day. However, when the film takes a break for showing the girls' plight, it focuses on Kathryn's personal life and back story which are choppy and do not come across as fully thought out. There is her home life back in the states which she left, including her daughter, and an awkward budding romance with a Dutch security contractor. Including romance and relationships in a film with this disturbing subject matter would be tough for any director, and this first time feature director does not quite pull it off.
It will take this reviewer some time to get over some of the images in The Whistleblower; tread at your own risk. But this story deserves to be told and shown in all of its brutality.
Meilleurs choix
Détails
- Date de sortie
- Pays d’origine
- Langues
- Aussi connu sous le nom de
- The Whistleblower
- Lieux de tournage
- Sociétés de production
- Voir plus de crédits d'entreprise sur IMDbPro
Box-office
- Montant brut aux États-Unis et au Canada
- 1 124 966 $US
- Week-end de sortie aux États-Unis et au Canada
- 61 002 $US
- 7 août 2011
- Montant brut mondial
- 1 870 392 $US
- Durée1 heure 52 minutes
- Couleur
- Mixage
- Rapport de forme
- 2.35 : 1