The Whistleblower (2010) | "Immunity, Not Impunity"

The type of odious life form I most despise in this world is the sex trafficker--that soulless man or woman who profits off the abuse and torture of women. Even sadder though are all the good men and women who remain silent as evil thrives all around them. This movie features the very opposite type of person, as it chronicles an extraordinary woman who courageously stands up for the truth, despite the numerous obstacles in her way.

Enter Kathryn Bolkovac, an American police officer who signs up to be a U.N. International Police Force monitor in Bosnia a couple years after the signing of the Dayton Agreement. The country was in a state of disrepair, and so international forces were required to maintain order and facilitate investigations.

In the film, which portrays a fictional account of Kathryn's struggles, she soon meets Raya, a 15-year-old runaway sex slave who was trafficked into Bosnia from the Ukraine by her aunt's boyfriend. But to her utter shock and dismay, Kathryn discovers that everybody is in on the sex trafficking business, including the Bosnian police, many of her colleagues and even international figures of prominence.

She convinces Raya to testify against the bar owner / pimp who managed her and to identify those UN peacekeepers who paid for sex, but before Raya can speak in court, she is abducted again, and then tortured. Despite diligent attempts to subvert these heinous crimes, Kathryn continually comes up short, blocked at every attempt by members of DynCorp, the private military contractor, aka private corporation, that hired her.

The traffickers subsequently kill Raya, and DynCorp opts to terminate Kathryn from her position after she sends an email to the CEO wherein she explicitly details all that she has heard and witnessed. Thankfully, with the help of British policeman Richard Monk and the head of the UN Human Rights Commission, Madeline Rees, Kathryn is eventually able to expose DynCorp to the general public.

Sadly, in real life, practically nothing happened after the story hit the headline news. DynCorp released those employees accused of participating in the sex trade, but not a single one was prosecuted--even those officers who originated from the United States. To this day, DynCorp continues to receive billions in dollars from our beloved government, despite the fact that the conduct of their employees hasn't changed a single bit.

God bless governments and private corporations, aye?