Trade (2007)

Directed by: Marco Kreuzpaintner | 119 minutes | drama, thriller, crime | Actors: Kevin Kline, Alicja Bachleda-Curus, Paulina Gaitan, Kathleen Gati, Pavel Lychnikoff, Anthony Crivello, Linda Emond, Zack Ward, Kate del Castillo, Cesar Ramos, Marco Pérez

Remarkably, two Hollywood films about abuse of women in Mexico are coming out this fall, the action drama ‘Bordertown’, with co-producer Jennifer Lopez as the center of the action, and the thriller ‘Trade’, produced by blockbuster screenwriter Roland Emmerich (‘The Day after Tomorrow’) with a team of talented young makers.

‘Trade’ is heavier than ‘Bordertown’ and also less focused on a strong lead. The only star actor, Kevin Kline, does not give the impression of wanting or being able to bend the film to his will. When he appears halfway through the film, we are now deep in the troubles of the girls Veronica and Adriana, convincingly portrayed as identityless trading objects in a globalized world in which the dollar rules all-powerful.

Adriana’s brother Jorge – a charming rascal who doesn’t like gringos – has become a hero and savior, finds the secret whereabouts of the girls from which they are smuggled across the border and encounters an American fraud detective, played by Kline, in whose trunk he finds himself. cross the border unnoticed. At first sight, the role of the indefinable facial expressions grossing Kline seems to have been added to the film for the actor himself. Ray’s decision to come to Jorge’s aid is abrupt, his relationship with the Mexican swagger progresses through clichéd father-son squabbles, and Kline’s character – a worn-out midlifer in search of an illegitimate daughter – is poorly fleshed out.

This fact and the simplistic heroism with which Jorge tackles the criminals may raise eyebrows, but we are also surprised by some dramatically strong moments, striking performances (Gaitan, Marco Pérez as guardian of the girls) and an exciting conclusion. It does not deliver a balanced end product, but Marco Kreuzpaintner and screenwriter Jose Rivera (‘The Motorcycle Diaries’) succeed in the saddening practices of trafficking in women and children – portrayed by director of photography Daniel Gottschalk as if it were the Holocaust – under to bring attention.