For a first-time director to attract big-name actors to a film the story must be impressive. This is certainly true for The Whistleblower. Starring Rachel Weisz, Monica Belucci, David Strathairn and Vanessa Redgrave, The Whistleblower is based on the true story of former DynCorp employee and UN International Police Task Force monitor Kathryn Bolkovac.
Bolkovac was a police officer from Lincoln Nebraska who went to work in post-war Bosnia. She was excited at the chance to support a new police force in a fledgling country, under the UN. However, she hadn’t even left the US before she found at least one colleague knew girls as young as 12 could be bought for sex in Bosnia. Bolkovac began to investigate sex trafficking in Sarajevo and discovered that many internationals were not only aware of the presence and prevalence of brothels filled with girls trafficked from other countries, but were using their services and even buying girls outright. This included staff employed by DynCorp, international aid groups, and the UN.
Just days after Bolkovac brought this to the attention of her superiors she was demoted. Less than six months later, she was fired from DynCorp altogether. She sued Dyncorp for unfair dismissal for protected disclosure (whistleblowing). Bolkovac won, with the tribunal ruling unanimously in her favour, but her prospects for international police work were ruined. Some of those she denounced were forced to resign, but none have been prosecuted in the US, and they possess immunity from prosecution in Bosnia. Bolkovac has also released a book based on her story this year - The Whistleblower: Sex Trafficking, Military Contractors, and One Woman's Fight for Justice.
Canadian director Larysa Kondracki has stated that the events portrayed in the film seemed so unbelievable she opted not to sensationalise, but rather to downplay them, yet the film remains emotionally powerful and some of the scenes shocking. Kondracki won Best Director for her efforts at the 2011 Seattle International Film Festival.
(- Nicole Batten)
Catch the Australian premiere of The Whistleblower Saturday August 13, Dendy Opera Quays.