DVD Details: Actors: Kevin Kline, Kathleen Gati, Paulina Gaitan, Cesar Ramos, Alicja Bachleda Directors: Marco Kreuzpaintner Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC. Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only) Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1; Number of discs: 1; Studio: Lions Gate DVD Release Date: January 29, 2008; Run Time: 120 minutes Adriana (Paulina Gaitan) is a 13-year-old girl from Mexico City whose kidnapping by sex traffickers sets in motion a desperate mission by her 17-year-old brother, Jorge (Cesar Ramos), to save her. Trapped and terrified by an underground network of international thugs who earn millions exploiting their human cargo, Adriana's only friend and protector throughout her ordeal is Veronica (Alicja Bachleda), a young Polish woman tricked into the trade by the same criminal gang. As Jorge dodges immigration officers and incredible obstacles to track the girls? abductors, he meets Ray (Kevin Kline), a Texas cop whose own family loss to sex trafficking leads him to become an ally in the boy's quest. Trade, a controversial drama that aims to enlighten viewers to the horrors of the international sex slave trade, functions in a somewhat documentary mode due to its purposefully repellent nature. Written by Jose Rivera, who also adapted to screen the Motorcycle Diaries, Trade opens in Mexico City where a tourist, Weronika (Alicja Bachleda-Curus), is kidnapped right before a thirteen year-old Mexican girl, Adriana (Paulina Gaitan) is yanked off her bike and pushed into a black Mercedes. Quickly, the two young women meet in various squalid conditions, alternating turns of abuse and rape with sleazy men who prepare them for international sale over the Internet. A vengeful plot kicks in once Adriana's brother, Jorge (Cesar Ramos) and Texas policeman, Ray Sheridan (Kevin Kline), fatefully unite to rescue Adriana in hopes of eliminating this repugnant operation. Trade is nothing short of a melodrama; the script is overwrought, and many scenes are morbid and graphic. When Adriana has been captured by U.S. border patrol, sits in prison, and a Texas high school student offers her, in Spanish, friendship and an issue of Glamour magazine, one feels the soap opera line being crossed. However, the political message in Trade is strong and preaching aside, viewers may realize that any exposure of women's rights violations is for the greater good. —Trinie Dalton
