Not Taken: Origins

I'm active in helping people who have been victims of trafficking so watch any film I come across on the topic. Most every film on the subject focuses on the victims and getting them help when they are found, or how they are stuck the world of being sex workers. All well intended, a few are brave enough to say our system isn't stopping traffickers. The big movie related to it all is Taken, and that's just nonsense as not too many victims have dads who are ex-CIA super agents who find them and rescue them with his ex-CIA super agent buddies. And they don't rescue other children, just his daughter. Sad. Then I was searching and found this move and the name, Not Taken, made me smile. Yeah, a lot better to be not taken, not taken and be traumatized. It said it was a prequel to the movie that has yet to come out called Not Taken, and this was about the traffickers in that movie and how they got into it.

I was fine thinking it was some sort of documentary about traffickers who had been caught and then they interview them and that's been done in other documentaries. But NO. This isn't that at all. I just read another review here and it said the person had never seen a movie like this one. That is an understatement. It's not like any other movie I've ever seen as well, but it tells about how trafficking actually works in a way I've never seen and I've seen just about every film on the topic and dozens of books on it. I was stunned, shocked, and amazed. More than anything, this is the most insightful and honest look at trafficking I know of. It's not a do-gooder, preachy or sympathetic view of trafficking. It explains why trafficking happens, and that traffickers are not at all like shown elsewhere.

As a film, it's not a film. It's called a narrative. It has different segments each which have a trafficker narrating how they became trafficker and it has animations, videos, pictures, and other images that illustrate what each trafficker talks about. Each is different, and at first I was, like, what is this??? Then as I watched it all started to make sense and it's like visiting their minds and seeing what they see. By the end, I realized that to tell the stories the movie was like a dream. It was hypnotic and surreal. By the end I had an emotional reaction that I had entered the reality of trafficking, and it scared me as trafficking is sick sick sick.

If you let yourself get into the stream of consciousness style, the words and images will all explain more about trafficking and traffickers than a conventional film or documentary will. It's a brave film, and I learned how frightening the world of trafficking really is.

A final note, and a warning. Films about trafficking all hold back on what trafficking is, how it works, and what traffickers are like. It's a world built on commoditizing young children a objects. Things to sell. They aren't people. This film speaks the language of trafficking and it is full of obscene language and talking about sex in a shocking way. The traffickers are like used car salespeople who don't care about anybody or the harm they do. The people are things. The victims are refereed to as their anatomical body parts, and sold like a box of cereal at a store. It's upsetting and you know what? It must be. That's why this film works. It isn't afraid to use the language of trafficking, and show the lack of values placed on human lives. By the end, I hated traffickers more than ever and wanted to support stopping traffickers as my mission.

I recommend this unique film, and it's going to upset anyone watching it so be prepared. It's a hammer blow to the complacency our society has when it comes to allowing traffickers to operate.

Being a fan of the "Not Taken" books, I was extremely excited to see the release of this movie and it didn't disappoint.

I've never seen anything quite like it. Think of "Not Taken: Origins" as a combination between a screen play and a novel, brought to life by an amazing sound track. The colors and tones really set the mood and then the story takes the viewer on a ride.

The editing of the scenes and images is incredible, and brings the characters of "Not Taken" to life as well as fills-in some scintillating parts of their backstory that helps explain the life story that shaped them into the people they are.

You can tell Terry Ulick is the real deal. Be forewarned: "Not Taken: Origins" doesn't sugar coat the brutal life of trafficking; it tells and shows things as they are. It isn't always pleasant, but it's always captivating.

I read the Not Taken book and excited to see it as a movie as it's the best book on sex trafficking I've read. Then I see this film. Not Taken Origins, and wow, it's like nothing I expected or have ever seen before. It's something new... kind of a film, a biography, an audiobook, and it's so effective put together in what is described as a narrative. It fills in lots of backstories of the traffickers in Not Taken which in a way that is matter of fact, and you start to understand how they became traffickers.

Each trafficker narrates their own story. The talk while scenes are shown about what they are explaining. Each of the six featured stories is different from the next, and fitting for the character. It's something that gives details you wouldn't expect in a movie, but more like a documentary yet they are all fictional and don't really exist in real life, just in the book.

At first I was, like, what is this? But in minutes I was into the first story about a trafficker who was trafficked when 5, and it just gets better and better. Great idea, and it makes the book, and I'm sure the movie, even better.

I loved it, but be prepared. It's a new way of telling a story and if you give it a chance, you'll learn about how traffickers work, and have an amazing experience watching how it's told. It's nasty stuff, so be prepared!

At first I didn't know what I was watching. Nothing about this movie is a movie, nor does it claim to be. It is defined as a "narrative." That's what it is. It isn't actors playing out scenes. It's a person (a trafficker) narrating their life story as visuals to support their experiences and thoughts are shown in a variety of formats. It's a mix of live action, still images, illustrations, and it does what a traditional film format can't. It reveals what's inside the trafficker's heads - not their actions in scenes as most all other movies do.

It works amazingly well. I would describe it as sitting down with a trafficker and they talk to you about how they became a trafficker, share their values and opinions, and hold out their iPhones to show pictures taken along the way to show the moments they are describing. It's something that conventional movies can't do well, and that's get inside the heads of some really sick, screwed up people as they tell that what they do or have done is normal, everyday stuff that anyone would understand. As they describe the sickest of acts using the language of the sex world it is repulsive and explicit. No holding back. They're talking shop, not being questioned by the law and holding back in any way.

A number of traffickers each tell their stories in a different visual style. My favorite was a vile trafficker who grew up as a child learning the business in a world that accepted his acts. As it's from his childhood, it's a narration over a child's storybook, pages flipping and classic watercolor illustrations used to show his corrupt past acts when still a child. I learned that the values of the people in the sick world of trafficking go back to when they were children and many were trafficked themselves.

It's relentless, obscene, explicit in descriptions of sex, and all of that gives insight on why trafficking takes place and how horrible it is for anyone trafficked. These are the people who do it to them, and they are bad in every way. It has a major trigger warning at the start, and it is warranted. This is not for anyone who has been abused or sensitive to explicit descriptions of sick sex acts.

That said, this is the most insightful film on the topic of trafficking I've seen, and look forward to what is next. This is the prelude to full live action movies that will include these sick traffickers. That is scary to think about, but I get the clue that the movies will go past this narrative and show how it looks from the side of the people attempting to stop traffickers.

This was an amazing film that is brave in it's use of the narrative, doesn't hold back on language or the stories, and gives insight into the business of trafficking and how horrible traffickers really are. Bravo!