It’s a fictionalized version of real-life United Nations worker and whistle-blower Kathryn Bolkovac, a Nebraska cop turned U.N. International Police monitor in Bosnia in the late 1990s, and the tale of how she uncovered a human trafficking conspiracy by natives and U.N. workers and a cover-up involving a U.S. government contractor and the highest levels of the U.N.
It’s certainly enough to make you sick at the evil men do, especially under the cover of wartime in a foreign land. But the whole enterprise often plays like an ordinary fiction film.
Although her performance is heartfelt and powerful, Rachel Weisz is not particularly convincing as a cop from Lincoln, who loses custody of her daughter to her husband in their divorce proceedings and then takes a temporary job abroad with the U.N. because it pays so well.
Romanian stage actress Roxana Condurache is certainly striking and pitiable as Raya, one of the victims of sex slavery. But anyone who’s seen Mike Nichols’ far superior whistle-blower drama "Silkwood" (1983) will groan when Kathryn assures Raya and her friend and fellow victim Luba (German-born Paula Schramm) without any real justification that she will keep them both safe.
Wanna bet? That sort of heavy-handedness may take you out of the film. Vanessa Redgrave adds a touch of class as Kathryn’s U.N. superior who also wants to uncover the truth. But David Strathairn is mostly wasted as a U.N. worker in Bosnia, and one must wonder if a less recognizable face than Monica Bellucci’s might have lent more verisimilitude to another small role.
"Whistleblower" also features a lot of Brits playing Americans. Overall, the film may be a case where a documentary might have better served the story and Bolkovac’s original intention: to show the world what really happened under the guise of international altruism.
("The Whistleblower" contains sexually suggestive scenes, as well as torture and other violence and profanity .)
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