Trade – A Tale About Sexual Slavery

Trade is a 2007 dramatic film based on Peter Landesman’s 2004 New York Times cover story on the subject of sex slaves. The film is being produced by Roland Emmerich, the German producer behind Stargate and Independence Day, and directed by Marco Kreuzpaintner from a screenplay by Jose Rivera, and stars Kevin Kline, Cesar Ramos, Paulina Gaitan, Alicja Bachleda-Curus. It’s being distributed by Lions Gate Films and Centropolis Entertainment and will hits theaters on August 31st, 2007.

The film follows Jorge (Cesar Ramos),a 17-year-old boy who sneaks into the United States from Mexico, in order to rescue his 13-year-old sister Adriana (Paulina Gaitan), who was kidnapped by sex traffickers. In Texas, he meets a police officer named Ray (Kevin Kline), who lost members of his own family to sex traffickers. Due to his loss, he befriends Jorge and joins him in his quest to find his sister and her friend Veronica (Alicja Bachleda-Curus) before they’re whisked away into the underground sex slave trade and lost forever.

Milla Jovovich, the star of the Resident Evil films, was originally on board to play Veronica, but ended up backing out. Paulina Gaitan has only been in one other film, Innocent Voices, and this is Cesar Ramos’ first feature film. Jose Rivera, the screenwriter of the film, has written a couple of film and television projects, including five episodes of the short-lived TV show Eerie, Indiana. Marco Kreuzpaintner has written and directed a number of German films. Kevin Kline should need no introduction, as the legendary actor has been in dozens of films, covering all sorts of genres.

An early review from Variety magazine was not-so-kind to the film, citing “gaping holes in logic” and also refers to the film as “sleaze.” Ouch.

Watch the trailer for Trade which hits theaters on August 31st, 2007.