Stopping Traffic: The Movement to End Sex Trafficking

Who knew that action movie star Dolph Lundgren is a real-life activist trying to help curb the international monstrosity of sex trafficking of children? That is one of the more minor revelations in the documentary Stopping Traffic, an amateurish production which nevertheless serves up a great deal of shocking, sickening facts about the enslavement of boys and girls in the sex trade. Filmmaker and Jain monk Sadhvi Siddhali Shree brings both clarity and tempered emotions to her own on-camera discussions about the estimated number of child sex slaves in the world (27 million, probably an underestimate), whose typical day could include being raped 30 or more times. Viewers meet several young people who escaped their captive existence and here provide gruesome details about the hell they experienced. Shree takes her camera to Mexico, the Philippines, Thailand, and Iraq (and also focuses on Dallas and New Orleans) to offer visual proof of the marketing of kids, sometimes at risk of being discovered while clandestinely filming. Unfortunately, the haphazard narrative here deflates the issue's urgency. And while the film does try to present some solutions to the global problem (such as finding ways to shut down demand), these ideas don't sound like nearly enough. Still, Shree's mission and passion are commendable. A strong optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)