Trade, a controversial drama that aims to enlighten viewers to the horrors of the international sex slave trade, functions in a somewhat documentary mode due to its purposefully repellent nature. Written by Jose Rivera, who also adapted to screen theMotorcycle Diaries, Trade opens in Mexico City where a tourist, Weronika (Alicja Bachleda-Curus), is kidnapped right before a thirteen year-old Mexican girl, Adriana (Paulina Gaitan) is yanked off her bike and pushed into a black Mercedes. Quickly, the two young women meet in various squalid conditions, alternating turns of abuse and rape with sleazy men who prepare them for international sale over the Internet. A vengeful plot kicks in once Adriana's brother, Jorge (Cesar Ramos) and Texas policeman, Ray Sheridan (Kevin Kline), fatefully unite to rescue Adriana in hopes of eliminating this repugnant operation.Tradeis nothing short of a melodrama; the script is overwrought, and many scenes are morbid and graphic. When Adriana has been captured by U.S. border patrol, sits in prison, and a Texas high school student offers her, in Spanish, friendship and an issue of Glamour magazine, one feels the soap opera line being crossed. However, the political message inTradeis strong and preaching aside, viewers may realize that any exposure of women's rights violations is for the greater good. —Trinie Dalton
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