I won't write about the contents, others did that already - I'll write about the setting of the movie.
I was very pleased to find a US movie dealing with multinational corporations, unions, murder, police crime and environmental pollution in the form of a crime mystery that really works. This, I mainly attribute to the well balanced way everything was handled: Multinational corporations pay very low wages, but on the other hand, without them there might be even less jobs in developing countries. Trade unions help workers to more rights and higher wages, but on the other hand the multinationals just move on when the wages rise, etc. pp. OK, drug lords and crime play a big part in this movie, too - but I am glad these things are not depicted as being cool or glitzy, like in other movies. What I don't understand is the IMDb label 'Thriller' - the German word 'Krimi' (crime movie) seems to fit better. And like some German crime movies, the crime is only used as a vehicle for all the other trials and tribulations happening to the characters.
Watching all the street scenes and how people like the human rights guy might actual live in Mexican cities (where being abducted seems to be an almost daily experience) was much more believable and 'real' like, for instance, in 'Man on Fire'. Thumbs up for that.
To find such a multi-layered view of things makes watching this movie a pleasure - although the topic is very sad. Unfortunately this was a straight to pay TV/video release in Germany, so not many people will have the chance to watch it.
The only thing I missed was a real motive for the one shown as being responsible in the end. Maybe watching it a second time might help here.
I was very pleased to find a US movie dealing with multinational corporations, unions, murder, police crime and environmental pollution in the form of a crime mystery that really works. This, I mainly attribute to the well balanced way everything was handled: Multinational corporations pay very low wages, but on the other hand, without them there might be even less jobs in developing countries. Trade unions help workers to more rights and higher wages, but on the other hand the multinationals just move on when the wages rise, etc. pp. OK, drug lords and crime play a big part in this movie, too - but I am glad these things are not depicted as being cool or glitzy, like in other movies. What I don't understand is the IMDb label 'Thriller' - the German word 'Krimi' (crime movie) seems to fit better. And like some German crime movies, the crime is only used as a vehicle for all the other trials and tribulations happening to the characters.
Watching all the street scenes and how people like the human rights guy might actual live in Mexican cities (where being abducted seems to be an almost daily experience) was much more believable and 'real' like, for instance, in 'Man on Fire'. Thumbs up for that.
To find such a multi-layered view of things makes watching this movie a pleasure - although the topic is very sad. Unfortunately this was a straight to pay TV/video release in Germany, so not many people will have the chance to watch it.
The only thing I missed was a real motive for the one shown as being responsible in the end. Maybe watching it a second time might help here.