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Sex Traffic (2004)
 

Synopsis

Warning: screenonline full synopses contain 'spoilers' which give away key plot points. Don't read on if you don't want to know the ending!

Elena Visinescu and her younger sister, Vera, are persuaded by Vera's boyfriend, Lexi, to leave their home in Moldova for a new life in London. However, the two are double-crossed by Lexi, who has sold them to sex traffickers. They are transported to the Blue Bar in Sarajevo and forced to work as prostitutes. The bar is often targeted for police raids by the IPC, a privatised peace-keeping force under the auspices of the American security company Kernwell. However, a soldier in the IPC, Callum Tate, has fallen in love with one of the young women there and, in attempting to free her, has been arrested in a police raid and ordered home. Before leaving, he discovers a tape which implicates a number of officers at IPC in the sex trade.

An employee of a London charity, Daniel Appleton is sent to Bosnia on a routine fact-finding mission to report on the operations of IPC. He becomes suspicious when he sees IPC soldiers involved in the sale of young women. Later, on visiting the Blue Bar, he encounters Elena and manages to leave his calling-card before a police raid interrupts their meeting and the head of IPC, Major James Brooke orders him to leave the country.

At a lavish banquet in Boston, Massachusetts, the Kernwell Organisation pledges three million dollars to a charity in Italy that provides shelter for victims of sex trafficking. In an endeavour to convince the charity of its integrity, the lawyer-wife of Kernwell's chief executive, Madeleine Harlsburgh, is sent to its shelter in Italy. Unknown to her, her husband has received a copy of the incriminating tape from Callum Tate, which, if in the public domain, could be hugely damaging to the company's reputation.

When Madeleine arrives at the shelter, she encounters Elena, who has narrowly escaped drowning when thrown into the sea by traffickers as a decoy to avoid capture by the police. Before being transported from Bosnia, Elena has managed to make a telephone call to her mother, which has reactivated an investigation into her disappearance by the Deputy Chief of Police, Rudy Lascar. Now, however, distraught at her separation from Vera, Elena slips out of the shelter and persuades one of the traffickers to take her to London where her sister is being held. Here she is again forced into prostitution and badly beaten up by her pimp. Later she succeeds in escaping and makes contact with Daniel Appleton, whose publicised allegations against the IPC are antagonising his employers. Daniel has been contacted by Rudi, who has discovered evidence that the girls are being recruited via a London College offering classes in English. Elena is overjoyed to be re-united with Vera there, but Daniel points out that Vera's prosperous life-style suggests that she has become part of the illegal operation and is helping to enrol the girls prior to their exploitation.

Back in Boston, Madeleine is approached by Callum Tate, whose initial desire to blackmail Kernwell over his knowledge of IPC's activities has changed on learning of the death by drowning of his girlfriend while being trafficked to Italy. He now wants Madeleine's help in bringing to justice corrupt IPC officers. Discovering a copy of the tape in her husband's office, Madeleine confronts him over his tacit complicity with these crimes; there is a fierce argument and she leaves the office with the tape and sends it to Appleton. He and Elena are participating in a police operation at Waterloo station to apprehend traffickers with their new girls, but Vera, rejecting Elena's pleas to come home and recognising the police trap, disappears into the crowd. Receiving the tape from Madeleine, Daniel notices a damning new piece of evidence: among the soldiers filming and interviewing the girls prior to their being sold is Major Brooke.

Arrests are made in London. Major Brooke is dismissed. On behalf of Kernwell, Tom Harlsburgh deplores the actions of errant officers at IPC and hails the acquisition of a new security contract in Iraq; but he returns to an empty home. In Moldova, Elena is reunited with her mother and son. In a police car at night, Rudi watches Lexi, grooming another young woman for sale.Elena Visinescu and her younger sister, Vera, are persuaded by Vera's boyfriend, Lexi, to leave their home in Moldova for a new life in London. However, the two are double-crossed by Lexi, who has sold them to sex traffickers. They are transported to the Blue Bar in Sarajevo and forced to work as prostitutes. The bar is often targeted for police raids by the IPC, a privatised peace-keeping force under the auspices of the American security company Kernwell. However, a soldier in the IPC, Callum Tate, has fallen in love with one of the young women there and, in attempting to free her, has been arrested in a police raid and ordered home. Before leaving, he discovers a tape which implicates a number of officers at IPC in the sex trade.

An employee of a London charity, Daniel Appleton is sent to Bosnia on a routine fact-finding mission to report on the operations of IPC. He becomes suspicious when he sees IPC soldiers involved in the sale of young women. Later, on visiting the Blue Bar, he encounters Elena and manages to leave his calling-card before a police raid interrupts their meeting and the head of IPC, Major James Brooke orders him to leave the country.

At a lavish banquet in Boston, Massachusetts, the Kernwell Organisation pledges three million dollars to a charity in Italy that provides shelter for victims of sex trafficking. In an endeavour to convince the charity of its integrity, the lawyer-wife of Kernwell's chief executive, Madeleine Harlsburgh, is sent to its shelter in Italy. Unknown to her, her husband has received a copy of the incriminating tape from Callum Tate, which, if in the public domain, could be hugely damaging to the company's reputation.

When Madeleine arrives at the shelter, she encounters Elena, who has narrowly escaped drowning when thrown into the sea by traffickers as a decoy to avoid capture by the police. Before being transported from Bosnia, Elena has managed to make a telephone call to her mother, which has reactivated an investigation into her disappearance by the Deputy Chief of Police, Rudy Lascar. Now, however, distraught at her separation from Vera, Elena slips out of the shelter and persuades one of the traffickers to take her to London where her sister is being held. Here she is again forced into prostitution and badly beaten up by her pimp. Later she succeeds in escaping and makes contact with Daniel Appleton, whose publicised allegations against the IPC are antagonising his employers. Daniel has been contacted by Rudi, who has discovered evidence that the girls are being recruited via a London College offering classes in English. Elena is overjoyed to be re-united with Vera there, but Daniel points out that Vera's prosperous life-style suggests that she has become part of the illegal operation and is helping to enrol the girls prior to their exploitation.

Back in Boston, Madeleine is approached by Callum Tate, whose initial desire to blackmail Kernwell over his knowledge of IPC's activities has changed on learning of the death by drowning of his girlfriend while being trafficked to Italy. He now wants Madeleine's help in bringing to justice corrupt IPC officers. Discovering a copy of the tape in her husband's office, Madeleine confronts him over his tacit complicity with these crimes; there is a fierce argument and she leaves the office with the tape and sends it to Appleton. He and Elena are participating in a police operation at Waterloo station to apprehend traffickers with their new girls, but Vera, rejecting Elena's pleas to come home and recognising the police trap, disappears into the crowd. Receiving the tape from Madeleine, Daniel notices a damning new piece of evidence: among the soldiers filming and interviewing the girls prior to their being sold is Major Brooke.

Arrests are made in London. Major Brooke is dismissed. On behalf of Kernwell, Tom Harlsburgh deplores the actions of errant officers at IPC and hails the acquisition of a new security contract in Iraq; but he returns to an empty home. In Moldova, Elena is reunited with her mother and son. In a police car at night, Rudi watches Lexi, grooming another young woman for sale.