Call and Response - The Movie

Sunday evening my wife and I join some friends in the Twin Cities for a viewing of a movie called "Call & Response". For a full-on review from a professional I recommend the review at Culture11.com.

From the Call and Response website:

The Call and Response film is a catalyst to engage the public in fighting human trafficking. In it, we graphically portray the state of modern-day slavery, and call our audience to respond to it. Our goal is to inspire the public to support high impact efforts by effective organizations.

After the movie we all stood outside the theater (in the cold!) talking about what we thought of the movie. Overall, it was fantastic, in a very sad and painful way. Human trafficking is not often talked about, but it goes on, even here in Minnesota. Just last year 8 brothels in Minnesota were shut down. So it goes on here. And it extends beyond the sex trade industry. The movie did a good job of pointing out that there are many industries where slavery is used. The mining of minerals used in cell phones is a good example.

So my suggestion is to seek this movie out. Watch it, talk about it, tell others about it. This is a HUGE problem that is off most people's radar, and it shouldn't be. Make a difference. This is not a movie for young children, the issues and situations in the movie are very serious and heartbreaking. I'd say 14 & up, and I'd suggest previewing it before showing to your 14-17 year old (Rated PG-13). The production level was high, I was impressed considering it is a low budget film. The format of the film was very different than any other I have seen. It would hit you hard for a period, and then a musical performer would sing a song, breaking up this otherwise very heavy subject. They maintained a good balance throughout, never getting preachy, but yet pushing you to think about what is going on, often right in our own back yards.

Some of the artist who donated their are: Cornel West, Madeleine Albright, Daryl Hannah, Julia Ormond, Ashley Judd, Nicholas Kristof, and many other prominent political and cultural figures offer first hand account of this 21st century trade. Performances from Grammy-winning and critically acclaimed artists including Moby, Natasha Bedingfield, Cold War Kids, Matisyahu, Imogen Heap, Talib Kweli, Five For Fighting, Switchfoot, members of Nickel Creek and Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers, Rocco Deluca move this chilling information into inspiration for stopping it.


Here's a trailer for the movie: