THE WHISTLEBLOWER directed by Larysa Kondracki, written by Eilis Kirwan and Kondracki, with Rachel Weisz, Vanessa Redgrave, David Strathairn and Monica Bellucci. An eOne Films release. 100 minutes. Opens Friday (August 12). See listing Rating: NNNN
You don’t see very many movies like The Whistleblower these days. Shaped after the paranoid thrillers of the 70s, it’s a genre film that exposes an issue that is both contemporary and urgent. Despite its storytelling flaws, it’s a movie that needs to be seen if only for its subject matter: sex trafficking.
Rachel Weisz turns in a fierce performance as Kathryn Bolkovac, a Nebraska police officer commissioned to be a UN peacekeeper in Bosnia. There, she discovers a horrific sex trade in which peace officers and UN officials are incriminated.
In bringing Bolkovac’s true story to the screen, co-writer/director Larysa Kondracki gives in to some melodramatic speeches and bits of awkward expository dialogue. But with a tale as disturbing and detailed as this, you can forgive such liberties.
It remains a solid thriller that, like Bolkovac, never loses sight of what’s most important: the victims.
