Spare Parts - Rezervni deli 

Directed by Damjan Kozole

Starring Peter Musevski, Aljosa Kovacic

A film that when you strip away all the periphery is in essence a buddy movie, old hand (Ludvik- Peter Musevski) takes on greenhorn (Rudi - Aljosa Kovacic), several minor adventures ensue, greenhorn makes big mistake which nearly ends but then strengthens the partnership. In the end (and very predictably) the greenhorn has become the old hand and is himself teaching the ropes to a newbie.

What makes this different and worth seeing? Well the subject of the film is human traffiking, which is one mega-sized problem at present; the process is treated with an air of normality, with no real judgement as to the rights and wrongs of it. To the guys who do it, its a job, a nice little earner; to the people using this method its a measure of sheer desperation. There are moments that make you despair for humanity such as when a young Macedonian woman is pressured into selling herself or when a family group is smuggled in a car boot only to be found dead from suffocation then unceremoniously dumped.

Along the way you find out more about the protagonists, they do not see themselves as evil but have very little in the way of a conscience. Ludvik is a widower, his wife had cancer. As far as the traffiking is concerned he deals with it as if he was a regular delivery guy, load em up, ship em out, what happens then is none of his business. Rudi on the other hand is nave to the business and the consequences, he has a pang of conscience but can he survive this type of work with it? 

The process certainly appears to be honest in the way people are dealt with (certainly in regards to recent news articles). It makes you wonder how desperate must someone be to take this route? You lay your life and the lives of those you love on the line dealing with these petty crooks. What little you have in the way of possessions, dignity and money is literally stripped from you and even then, there is no guarantee that you will get where you want or arrive in one piece!

The title refers to the fact that quite a few of these illegal immigrants end up selling or having organs stolen once they escape, kidneys, liver, lungs, heart there is a market for all of these and more, who cares where or who they came from?

A lot of the younger women, girls end up being sold into prostitution, this is brought up as a subject of general conversation and treated with disdain. Ive added a relevent note below of a very recent news item from Cardiff 


JAIL FOR SEX SLAVE PAIR 

By Richard Smith

TWO men were jailed yesterday for bringing a 21-year-old sex slave into Britain.
The Lithuanian woman, who was bought for 5,000, was expected to have sex with up to nine men a day and hand over her 1,225 weekly earnings to the Albanian gang bosses.
She was threatened with being cut into pieces and having her eight-year-old sister kidnapped if she tried to escape, Cardiff crown court heard.
Akil Likcami, 20, was jailed for six years after admitting trafficking and controlling a prostitute for gain. Gjerji Mungiovi-Cuka, 19, from Caldicot, Gwent, was given four years for trafficking.
Ethnic Albanian Likcami, of Cathays, Cardiff, will be deported at the end of his sentence. His friend has a UK passport and can stay in Britain.
Passing sentence, Judge Phillip Richards branded their trade "evil". The third member of the trio, known only as "Benny", is still at large.

I can understand why some may dislike the film as there is no soul searching or recrimination but it does give a different perspective on a very difficult issue.

Not an essential film but it is worth seeing. 

Cheers Trev.

BBFC rated 15.