Co-directors Josie Swantek Heitz and Dave Adams got more than they were expecting when they set out to profile a Thai crusader dedicated to combating sex trafficking. Mickey Choothesa solicits donations for COSA (Children's Organization of Southeast Asia), which he founded. Unlike government-run organizations, COSA doesn't seek to prosecute parents, but rather to help victims return to civilian life. Choothesa says he served as a 17-year combat photographer in various conflicts, including Desert Storm, and after returning to Thailand, he launched his second career by extracting trafficked girls from brothels on the border with Burma. Most of the COSA inhabitants hail from the hill tribes of Northern Thailand, and the directors use animated sequences to depict the lives of two in particular: COSA’s website explains that 17-year-old Fon's mother and 16-year-old Eye's aunt sold them into sex slavery. During the course of filming, Eye runs for president of her 10th-grade class, and the girls appear to be doing well, but when Choothesa asks Fon's mother about the sale of her daughter, she denies that it happened. He writes off her denial to saving face and fear of judgment, but the filmmakers uncover evidence that Choothesa fabricated the claims of trafficking, interviewing former volunteers, a managing director, and the girls themselves. What they discover is a man who has lied about almost everything, including his photography career. After the revelation, the filmmakers continue tracking the story as Choothesa evicts the girls who spoke to them. What started out as a film about sex trafficking, ends up being about fraud—one more way that the poor are vulnerable to craven opportunists who see them more as meal tickets than human beings. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)
The Wrong Light
(2017) 78 min. DVD: $99.95: public libraries; $350: colleges & universities. The Cinema Guild. PPR. Closed captioned. ISBN: 0-7815-1558-0. Volume 33, Issue 5
The Wrong Light
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