Human Trafficking (miniseries)

Plot

In Prague, Czech Republic, single mother Helena (Isabelle Blais) is seduced by a successful handsome man and travels with him to spend a weekend in Vienna, Austria. He then sells her to Human Traffickers and she is brought to New York City to work as a sex slave. In Kiev, Ukraine, sixteen-year-old Nadia (Laurence Leboeuf) has recently finished school and, without her father's prior consent or knowledge, she enters a modelling competition. She is selected by the bogus model agency to travel to New York with the other selected candidates, here she is forced into a life of sexual slavery. In Manila, Philippines, twelve-year-old American tourist Annie Gray (Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse) is abducted in front of her mother in a busy street by sex traffickers. She is forced into a child brothel which primarily services sex tourists. In common, the girls become victims of a powerful international network of sex traffickers led by the powerful Sergei Karpovich (Robert Carlyle).

In New York, after the third death of young Eastern European prostitutes, tenacious Russian-American NYPD Detective Kate Morozov (Mira Sorvino) suspects that these women are being "Trafficked" by human trafficking gangs. Detective Morozov applies to become a Special Agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She is hired, trained, and sworn in as an I.C.E. Special Agent. She then convinces her new boss, Bill Meehan (Donald Sutherland), the Special Agent-In-Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's New York Field Office, to assign her to the investigation. Kate tells Mr. Meehan that the reason she joined I.C.E. was to fight against this type of crime. She promises him that he will not regret assigning her to this investigation.

Cast

Production

The miniseries was produced by Muse Entertainment Enterprises for broadcast on Lifetime Television. In April 2005 Muse announced that principal photography had begun and that a Canadian broadcaster would be announced shortly. The miniseries was filmed in Montreal, Bangkok, and Prague and was completed in July 2005.

Reception

Human Trafficking received generally mixed to positive reviews by critics. Alessandra Stanley of the New York Times noted that Human Trafficking "avoids the seedy sensationalism that cheapens so many television depictions of the crime" and that it is "a harsh public-service message built into a clever, suspenseful thriller."

Tom Shales of The Washington Post was more negative as he found the miniseries an odd subject for Lifetime to broadcast. He noted that in attempting to, "expose a worldwide scandal" Human Trafficking, "happens to expose vast amounts of flesh in the process -- exploitation about exploitation."

John Doyle of The Globe and Mail was also negative towards the miniseries. He compared it to the "searing, shocking and hard to watch" CBC/Channel 4 miniseries Sex Traffic which "suggested a direct connection between the sex trade and NATO officials, and with Western corporations based in Eastern Europe. Doyle concluded that "While Human Trafficking is an international co-production with an international cast, it feels obstinately constructed to satisfy small-minded American viewers.

DVD

On October 25, 2005, Maple Pictures launched a two-disc DVD set of the mini-series in Canada, featuring interviews with the director and the main cast on the second disc. Echo Bridge Home Entertainment introduced the mini-series on a single DVD in the U.S. on May 2, 2006. This version includes deleted scenes that were not broadcast on Lifetime, along with interactive resources and scene selections. The Canadian DVD carries a 14A rating, while the U.S. version is not rated by the MPAA, attributed to the increased violence in the deleted scenes.

Primetime Emmy Awards

Golden Globe Awards

Gemini Awards