Watching The Whistleblower is not an easy experience. It’s a bit like getting kicked in the stomach. While it’s based on a true story, the story of Kathryn Bolkovac, it’s even more unnerving to hear director Larysa Kondracki speak about how she had to tone down the remarkable turn of events to make it believable at all.
CO - If you’re a fan of the Lifetime Movie Network’s Human Trafficking miniseries from a couple years back and are feeling hungry for even more harrowing melodrama about outraged ministers of justice staring unflinchingly into the black, gaping abyss of unspeakable human degradation, then January is your lucky month, because 20th Century Fox has just released a Blu-ray of its recent, based-on-a-true-story sex trafficking caper, The Whistleblower. The film’s source material has its merits, and it’s definitely not boring, but its oversimplified tone reduces it to a one-dimensional exercise in promoting political dialogue, dividing its time equally between tugging at your heartstrings and stimulating your gag reflex, and occasionally cranking it down a notch to accommodate a smooth didactic soliloquy or two.
The Whistleblower makes its Toronto premiere tomorrow. Deadline is providing a sneak peek at some of the footage. The film stars Rachel Weisz as Nebraska police officer who takes a job as a United Nations peackeeper assigned to post-war Bosnia. She uncovers a massive scandal and cover-up. Larysa Kondracki directs and Vanessa Redgrave, Monica Bellucci and David Straitharn co-star. UTA is selling domestic and Nicolas Chartier is handling foreign.
SlashFilm: A couple weeks back we posted a promo poster I ran across at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival for Larysa Kondracki’s The Whistleblower. /Film reader Dane S has sent over the promo trailer for the film, which I assume was being shown to distributors at Cannes. There is no knowing how long this trailer might be online, so watch it while its still hot.
