'The Whistleblower' unsparing and valiant
In this image released by Samuel Goldwyn Films, Rachel Weisz portrays Kathy Bolkovac in a scene from "The Whistleblower." (AP Photo/Samuel Goldwyn Films, Andrei Alexandru) Credit: AP Photo/Andrei Alexandru
Men are pigs. And if you'd like to argue the point, "The Whistleblower" will argue right back. Based on a true story of almost inconceivable injustice, bureaucratic paralysis and international corruption, director Larysa Kondracki's debut film is unsparing in its portrayal of sexual trafficking in a supposedly civilized world. But it's valiant, too -- especially regarding Rachel Weisz's performance as reluctant crusader Kathryn Bolkovac, a Nebraska policewoman who takes a job with a UN-contracted security firm, only to unearth a sex-trafficking network that's virtually abetted by the UN and the international treaties governing diplomatic immunity.
Kathryn just wants to make some money: She's lost custody of her daughter and needs the tax-free $100,000 she's getting from Democra Secura (based on Bolkovac's real-life employer, DynCorp) to fight her spiteful ex-husband in court. But once she reaches the Wild West of postwar Bosnia, the ex-cop can't turn away from the systemic sex trafficking she discovers, or keep herself from launching an oft-thwarted investigation into an operation where virtually everyone -- from contractors on up through the UN command -- is either a complicit or an active participant.
Weisz is really a wonderful performer, one we don't see enough of, and Kathryn Kondracki is an ideal role for an actress who so deftly marries steely determination with vulnerability, and existential frustration. Kathryn, who took the job to help humanity, discovers crimes she can't expose. Her only recourse is to steal her case files, which she does with the help of the one sympathetic male in the cast, David Strathairn. As for the rest of the men in the movie, they're vermin. But they help make one of Kondracki's more salient points: When sex comes in the door, morality -- around the world -- goes out the window.
PLOT In 1999, an American ex-policewoman in Bosnia discovers widespread sex trafficking, and the deck stacked against her. RATING R (graphic rape, strong language)
CAST Rachel Weisz, Vanessa Redgrave, David Strathairn, Monica Bellucci
LENGTH 1:52
PLAYING AT Manhasset Cinemas
BOTTOM LINE Tough subject, and a tough performance by Weisz as a woman battling exploitation and injustice.
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