The Jammed

I saw this film 2 nights ago at the Sydney Film Festival and I am still thinking about the issues that were tackled. The film was amazing and an all-round brilliant drama. Honestly, I couldn't stop the tears rolling down my face for at least 1 hour after the film ended.

The script did not contain lengthy dialogue, but this was a positive. It was not too fast, and not too slow - it was the right speed in order to allow the audience to empathise with the characters. The acting was quite good but I think what made the film was the cinematography and the music that fit the message so well.

I definitely recommend checking this film out - it is definitely gripping and very 'in your face'...but worth it!

This film does a great job exploring and uncovering the dark depths of a scarcely known subject admist the background of fast-paced metro Melbourne. As the film progresses, you become entranced by the characters' struggle and desperate attempt to escape a bleak situation from all sides, the illegal sex-trade slaves; the mother looking for her lost child in a foreign country and the insurance worker who somehow found herself reluctantly assisting her. Disturbing and eye-opening, the scenarios are forcefully binding you towards a fortunate outcome. The ending, in all it's raw harshness really intertwines with the conveyance of the film and the hint of realism dejects. I have to say, I really enjoyed it.

Great cast, and great script. The young actresses in particular, are ones to watch out for.

A stripped back film with no thrills, but story driven. A reality check on human trading and those who risk intervening.

Hard to know this is based on true events. A horrifying reality.

In this low budget picture, shot on HD, a 20 something Melbourne insurance worker becomes involved in the search for a victim of the sex slave racket. It's not really a thriller or a social document. Its dramatic focus is split between the prostitute/prisoners and the insurance worker, so the viewer tends to become attached and then detached. I think I was supposed to care about the insurance worker's personal life, which I was, a bit, but not that much. More importantly, I wanted to get to know the prostitute girls better as people, but there didn't seem to be time. Saskia Burmeister and Sun Park are excellent as two of the enslaved girls. Emma Lung is much less convincing. The music is dull, and includes that modern penchant for angelic choirs underscoring hideous physical abuse. Why? And what is this film actually about? The sex slaves? The insurance agent? The iniquity of the trafficking itself? Another couple of drafts of the script would maybe have sharpened up the focus. Nevertheless, it's not bad little picture.

The Jammed has created much controversy here in Melbourne, Australia - where it was shot.

For some bizarre reason it was rejected by the Melbourne Int'l Film Festival (MIFF) organisers this year - very strange since they brag they promote and support the Australian Film Industry.

It has been given a VERY LIMITED cinema release - 10 days in one cinema only.

It has not been entered in the 2007 AFI awards (probably because the makers have to pay a $1000 entry fee or because of deadline issues...).

Some film critics have labelled it a dog and others are waxing lyrical on it as being the best Australian film of 2007.

I saw it today in a sold out session and although sitting in row 2 - i found it to be a very well made and acted film. Not a masterpiece but still worth seeing.

Considering I sat through some questionable films at the recent MIFF and sure to sit through a few duds at the AFI festival starting this weekend - I am surprised a film of this quality - and examining a very important topic - has been treated so poorly here in Melbourne.