The Whistleblower: Real World Horrors

It’s easy to get caught up in our own lives here in America, forgetting just what things are like in other countries. Take for example, the former Yugoslavian quagmire of Bosnia-Herzigovina circa 1999: the war was officially over and now there were international diplomats along with a multi-country police force observing and assisting the Bosniaks as they instituted a sense of order. And judging from director/co-writer Larysa Kondracki’s The Whistleblower, they weren’t just not doing a good job; they were actually part of the problem.

Inspired by actual people and events, The Whistleblower has plenty of flaws as a film, but its searing, real-life subject matter and excellent performances from a fantastic cast elevate it above those script problems. In fact, once you get past the shaky first act, the movie cruises along, taking us with it on a journey into some of the seediest doings that humans inflict upon each other.

First, everything after the first act: This film is infuriating. I mean that in a good way. Usually movies are better when they’re able to paint multi-dimensional villains who aren’t pure evil and heroes who aren’t saints; however, with an act as unyieldingly awful as selling teenaged girls into sexual slavery, it’s hard to imagine many redeeming qualities in those involved. And thankfully Kondracki doesn’t bother to force anything onto her villains to make us feel for them. She, and her co-writer Eilis Kirwan, get away with this by having different levels of bad guys involved in this whole enterprise, all with their own culpability to some extent – whether it’s just turning a blind eye to others’ evil-doings or being the one actually holding these girls captive. The complexity comes from the scope of how many people need to be participating to keep such an organized web of human trafficking going.

Kondracki and Kirwan balance this with a flawed main character in Kathryn Balkovac, portrayed by the excellent Rachel Weisz; although they really biff her set-up in the first act by essentially just try to do too much. In an effort to develop some pathos for Balkovac off the bat, we learn that her husband has won custody of their teenaged daughter because she’s too busy at work to be a fit mother, apparently. But this is rather difficult to believe since Balkovac is a hard-working, respected police officer in Lincoln, Nebraska; not exactly the resumé of a neglectful parent. But, hey, it sets up her maternal guilt for not being there for her daughter – the ex-husband is moving his new family to Georgia, far away from Balkovac – which comes in handy as the real story of the film kicks in. (Although, it’s not exactly a stretch to think that any non-psychopathic human being – especially a mother – would feel a sense of duty to help these enslaved girls, so it ends up being a plot point that doesn’t really need to be there for the film to work.)

So, now that we’ve established that Balkovac’s only goal is to do everything in order to get a transfer to Georgia to be near her daughter, her boss offers her a well-paying position working for a contractor in Bosnia as part of the UN police force, which she accepts immediately, literally, since she’s in the former Yugoslavia in the very next scene. The only other contact she has with her daughter is via a short phone call when she’s already in the Balkans. So much for all that set-up regarding the importance of being near her daughter since I’m pretty sure Lincoln is much closer to Georgia than Sarajevo – unless she thought her ex-husband meant Georgia the country.

But again, I get it: we need to get Balkovac in country quickly because that’s where the movie truly gets moving along. And once it does, it’s a captivating tale well told. Still, Kondracki tosses in unnecessary elements that keep the film sputtering like that old Volvo that you used to drive in high school instead of humming along like your new Prius: Balkovac meets another American woman who ends up having zero involvement in the plot, throws out some tone-deaf pseudo-one-liners that feel like they’re from a completely different type of movie (think more Hollywood buddy picture), and then hooks up with a Dutch diplomat after a flirty game of pinball. The tone is just all wrong in these scenes, offering way too much levity considering the horrors she’s about to uncover. And since the most important thing in her life, we’re told, is her daughter, it seems like Balkovac would be more torn being so far away from her, but she’s clearly able to distract herself rather quickly and easily.

Thankfully, all of my above gripes happen in the first thirty minutes, meaning that there’s still the majority of the runtime to enjoy. I use the word “enjoy” loosely because this isn’t a feel-good movie by any means. This film exposes the dark underbelly of the human condition and the maddening lengths to which those in power will go to protect themselves and their institutions. It all comes to a head in true conspiratorial fashion, which keeps us on our toes even if Balkovac makes some conveniently bone-headed decisions that keep complicating the plot for plot’s sake. But by that point, we’re along for the ride and so angry at these men that, truthfully, I wanted Balkovac to just skip the whole by-the-book routine and go all Liam Neeson on everyone.

Clearly that’s not this type of movie and if Kondracki had gone that direction, I’m sure I’d be writing a scathing review of it right now instead of this approving one, but seeing this similar material in a more realistic light shows just how disturbingly satisfying it is to see it handled in Taken. There’s no easy answer to these social maladies, which is a tough pill to swallow. It’s nice to think that you could just send one guy over there to rescue these girls and exact some sort of punishment on those involved. But that’s not how it works in the real world. And this is a movie that, while clearly hyper-realized for the sake of cinema, exists in that real world.

The Whistleblower isn’t always easy to watch, especially for those particularly affected by the physical abuse of women, but it’s an important “issues” film that reminds us of the importance of personal integrity – and just how we shouldn’t take our own safety (and that of our loved ones) for granted.