Review of Nefarious: Merchant of Souls (2011) by Cosmo B — 23 Mar 2013

I saw the hard hitting documentary Nefarious: Merchant of Souls for the second time last night at a screening in Soho, London. This film, remarkably written, directed and produced by Benjamin Nolot, does not get any easier the more it is viewed.

In just under two shocking hours we are taken on a whirlwind tour through one of the greatest scourges our 'advanced' civilisation has today, human sex trafficking. From the villages of Eastern Europe (in Moldova alone it is estimated TEN PERCENT of the population has been trafficked) to the seedy 'glamour' of Las Vegas casinos via Cambodian rural communities (seeing the vunerable children being sold by their own families was particulary heartbreaking ) there is no let up to the visual punch we are thrown and I would defy anyone to walk away unchanged in their resolve to be part of bringing liberation to these modern day slaves.

This film is highlighting a thread of a web that is engulfing us as a society, a web that thrives on secrecy and complicity, encompassing child abuse, prostitution and pornography, and one that is growing at a terrifying rate.

The invisible people working tirelessly behind the scenes to bring change are true heros of today, inheritors of the spirit that led Telemachus to a martyrdom which effectively ended gladiator sacrifice in Rome and self proclaimed 19th century 'fanatic for freedom' William Wilberforce to fearlessly combat slavery.

The message of Nefarious is one that should bring a determination to every viewer to play their part in wiping each of these degrading violations of our fellow humans out completely.