Talking With Kathryn Bolkovac About Her Experience as The Whistleblower
Posted: 08/16/11 07:48 PM ET
After seeing (and reviewing) The Whistleblower, I contacted Kathryn Bolkovac, whose story is the basis of the movie, and interviewed her. Her answers speak for themselves, but also give such a sense of her persona, grit and determination.
FOSTER: You were faced with a situation where the people you worked with were engaged in something very shocking. Do you have any insight as to how or why they got involved with trafficking?
I really do not think there is clear cut answer for this. Everyone is an individual and is accountable to their individual behavior and potential illegal actions they committed and continue to commit in current missions. I think most people are truly just plain complicit in their thinking and tend to not get involved or look the other way to avoid any form of accountability, especially if they think that something does not directly affect them for their position. Then there is the group of people who can easily be swayed to join in on a pack mentality, who are morally and mentally weak or ignorant. When conditions are right as they have been and still are in many overseas missions around the world, or if they think they will not be caught or judged then it is easy for them to engage in illegal and corrupt behavior. They try to justify and minimize their actions. Finally, there are individuals who are just plain evil and corrupt, they see the money making potential of preying on the helpless and needy, and exploit every opportunity they can to make a buck, especially in an industry that involves sex. They are very good at dehumanizing, denial, and lying about what is going on.
FOSTER: What do you think needs to be done to address the trafficking issue? What can government do?
The trafficking issue at large is too complex to tackle with sweeping reform. There are so many different types of human trafficking each with different dynamics of funding the corruption. Obviously, many adults choose to be trafficked... or illegally transported across many borders to escape horrendous conditions in their own countries. These issues cannot be convoluted with organized criminal syndicates who are providing services to internationals all over the world, in the form of trafficking for forced prostitution. They are involved in the recruitment, abuse, desensitization, and sale of human flesh, into international missions as sex workers. This is what I want to discuss and what I think we can make a huge impact on based on my experiences as a former law enforcement officer, former UN employee, former representative of our U.S. government overseas, and as a former employee of one of the largest private government contractors in the world DynCorp.
FOSTER: What can our government do?
First, in the short term, the United States needs to take a serious look at why we are willing to allow private companies to engage in the profession of law enforcement. Government contractors are a needed and viable means to get many logistical and re-construction efforts accomplished. They are not a viable means for a protection force or as a mechanism for the use in training law enforcement officers in emerging democracies. Law enforcement is not a business. Policing is a calling. Does anyone really believe that private corporations are in this policing and operational mission business for anything but the money? We need to set an example with our own federal police selection units, perhaps via the Department of Justice as an example, why can we not recruit and most importantly train our own community police officers before we send them into these missions? My book accurately describes the pathetic training offered by the private company who sent me overseas, which I am sure was heavily subsidized with my tax dollars. It was a disgrace; none of us had even the minimum knowledge or idea of what we were supposed to be doing once we got into Bosnia.
If we are to continue to send "rent a cops " overseas with inadequate knowledge and inadequate protections from corrupt private companies, some of whom had serious questionable policing backgrounds we might want to stop and think about how this damages our reputation and our goals. The private company who fired me had free reign to treat me however they saw fit, no one was in authority to stop them. They were exempt from all U.S. government accountability and have never been held accountable for what they did to me to this day. How has this changed? It has not.
Second, get the Civilian Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (CEJA) out of committee and get it passed. It has been more than 12 years overdue. [NOTE: CEJA would allow the U.S. Justice Department to prosecute government contractors and employees for certain crimes committed overseas. It would complement the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA), which provides similar criminal jurisdiction over Department of Defense employees and contractors but does not clearly apply to U.S. contractors working overseas for other federal agencies.]
Third, make government contractors accountable for their employee actions, by putting a clause in their contracts that require them to facilitate and allow oversight of both external and internal investigations by outside government agencies, when probable cause exists that employees are suspected, or implicated in criminal offenses. They must cooperate in the facilitation of prosecutions. They can no longer just fire people, and hope the problem goes away, which automatically curtails any further investigation.
Fourth, set examples by having the means available to prosecute and convict with meaningful sentences.
FOSTER: What can individuals do?
Learn, read, report, and stop burying your heads in the sand. Many of the people involved in these crimes could be your next door neighbor.
Get local law enforcement initiatives started, and ask your police chiefs this question. What kind of training is being offered to your new recruits and officers on the streets to recognize and investigate all forms of human trafficking?
Do you think a local police chief in the hills of Northern New Mexico, or in the farming community of southern Illinois, is even going to know what we are talking about? Does the local hotel have young female Hispanics working in the housekeeping department? They do not speak English, they have no documents, does he know what wage they are being paid and in what form? Think about it. I have been in these places have you?
FOSTER: Many of the women and girls who are trafficked are promised jobs that don't materialize. What do you think would be effective to get the word out to them so that fewer of them fall prey to these types of promises?
The only effect we can have on this is to stop the demand.
FOSTER: How did you sustain yourself?
Continued faith in our justice system, lots of hard workouts and sweat, many tears and my husband would make me a strong gin tonic with lots of lemon and ice once in a while.
Follow Stephenie Foster on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/StephenieFoster首先这部电影在pptv的蓝光视频里,这样你们就可以容易找到。
这部电影是真人真事。
关于剧情,辗转反侧的内容,让眼睛和大脑不停的运作,本来以为是光明前的黑暗,原来是越来越琢磨不透的阴森。
然后让我们看看作为世界联合国,他们主要负责的事项, 我简单的摘要了一下 “联合国、各方案和基金以及专门机构组成“联合国系统”。作为联合国组织的大家庭,联合国执行涉及我们每个人方方面面的多种任务。这些任务既包括安全理事会为应对某一争端决定派遣维持和平行动,也包括制定航空安全和通信兼容性的标准; 既包括向自然灾害受害者迅速调运紧急用品,也包括协调对付艾滋病流行的工作;既包括帮助各国举行自由公正选举,也包括为较穷国家基础设施发展争取低息贷款提供担保。归根结底,联合国的工作是要创造一个更健康、更稳定的世界,增进我们人人享有的机会和正义(见
www.unsystem.org)”
剧中的女主角就是为了完成这些事情然后去不同国家帮助他人的其中一只小蚂蚁,不出所料的是,一群男人的里边,只有2个女人在做这样的事情,没有女生愿意做这样的工作,一年的很多时间飞来飞去,每天穿着制服,当女主角问她另外的一个女同事为什么做这个,那个女孩说,因为不需要大学毕业成绩,听说还能挣很多钱。
电影是讲人口贩卖的,一个多少年来一直存在的问题,看到影片中那些年轻的女孩被泯灭人性的欺凌,手无寸铁的她们让我揪心,她一个联合国中的一个小蚂蚁,想要拯救这些女孩们,重重的阻碍,不光使她丢掉了工作,还造成了其中一个女孩子的死亡。女人在那里,或者说在很多地方是不被看重的,丈夫的打虐,其他男人的不尊重,等等。
现在我的心情还是久久不能平静,无法平静下来不光是看到一部真人真事的电影,而且在电影最后 这个女人最后也没有能回到联合国上班,为什么一个人只是想伸张正义,努力的用自己的真心去工作,却那样难?
她一直没有哭,直到她看着其中被拐卖一个女孩,她伸出手对那个女孩说“ 别怕,你就只要说你想离开,你是安全的。” 她不停的说,泪也不停的落下来。女孩最后哭着说“no“ 她颤抖着躲到了那个连狗都不会住的房间里。
到底真相是什么,电影为我们留下了问号。
看到这些,我们应该做什么?
最后是一些电影的台词。
"We say in this nation that we are looking for people with honesty, integrity, drive and dedication, and then when we find such people, we take them out and whip them." -anonymous whistleblower
“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” -Margaret Thatcher
"Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something." -Pancho Villa
"We hold our heads high, despite the price we have paid, because freedom is priceless." -Lech Walesa
假设有这样的一个系统,有生命,且环环相扣。它的外部就像一个巨大的玻璃罩,或者大气层一样,它的运作靠着最基本的生命物体活动来维持,这是我们的群体,区域,国家,社会运作的单程模式。人类的部分活动可以提供这个玻璃罩运行所要的供养,然后它提供给我们保护、维持社会运作,提供发展所要的环境、平台和机会。这样而来即为一个相互依存的关系。同时,它是我们应需而创造的,有生命的机制,运行的体制。
像人类的活动,能动性导致这种活动必然的结果是进步的,推动历史前进的,但是,这个过程所吞噬的旧事物,会产生消极的,类似社会,道德和法律在倒退现象。像一个个体的人,要生存,然后要成长,就要进食,然后是消化,最后排泄。
所以。。。我想说的,一切都是必然,都是必须,都是不可避免,无可奈何的。对于时代来说,对于整个我们赖以生存的系统来说,对于个体力量来讲,谁都不能拆除掉自己的免疫系统,我们无能为力。
任何缺乏监督的权力都必然会孳生对权力的滥用。有良知的好电影。莫妮卡·贝鲁奇老得让人触目惊心!
写实片 对人口贩卖有了重新认识。看到最后感觉很绝望。
那些禽兽不把女人当人看,当畜生!!!贩卖人口来虐待,被卖的女孩实在是太可怜了。。。揪心!
Despite the impression left by the film, the failure of peacekeeping missions to protect the local population is not simply because of a lacck of integrity of UN staff.
非常有震撼力的片子,开场貌似很商业片,但中段起到最后高潮让我完全入戏,结局看得很压抑~坐到字幕完全放完电影院亮灯才离场,发现还有十来人也还未退场,回家的路上有给五星的冲动~~非要说拍摄手法剧本确实没有什么特别的,但叙事清晰表演出彩故事本身很有意义,这个人觉得足够了~~推荐此片~~
好片!
挺好的题材拍弱了
如果我们都生活在那个人性泯灭的少数人当权的社会结果会怎样。答案是:我们已经生活在那样的社会了。
毫无亮点。导演没什么风格,剧本又过于中庸,主题也过于老套了,就连蕾切尔薇兹的一个人的表演也没有强大到成撑起这部电影,毕竟这就是她一个人的独角戏。故事题材不错,但切入点还是太老土了,前半部分节奏紊乱,后面高潮戏份的节奏还行,但故事的结尾让人很失落,归于现实便无解了吧。★★★
比恐怖片还恐怖的现实世界,真实事件改编的官方参与女性人口贩卖案件,而最后也只是媒体曝光了一下而已!女主发现真相后行走,路过那些知道真相甚至是贩卖参与者的男性的那一段,拍出了女性的绝望,文明、法律的窗户纸下,联合国又怎样,人类对女性的奴役没有停止过,并且像是公开的秘密。
为真实
Kathryn的独角戏,正义永远无法击败利益。以前怎样,现在还是那样。真实改编,心里承受力不强者勿看。
我的心被打爆拉娅头的那颗子弹撕碎了。so fucking unfire.
真实而残酷,看过的关于人口贩卖的片子中,这部是情节最丑陋的结局是最无奈的了,谁叫你斗争的对象是整个国家甚至联合国呢。。。做着这样龌龊事情的竟然是打折和平旗号的维和部队,这世界还有什么是可以相信的吗。。。这部片完全是雷切尔的个人秀,发现她越来越适合这种独立干练的角色了。。。
Strongly recommend, you should go to watch to find what the fuckup happened in our world, it's the shame of humanity and human.
其实看到BC有接这部片子就大概知道这一定是个好题材。的确好题材,可惜导演真是烂到让人倒胃口,虽然没学过导演拍摄这种东西,但是以一个观看者的角度来说,这尼玛都想把镜头扯出屏幕外扔在地上用脚跺碎好么!两颗星全给好题材,一颗星给演员们,不偏不倚。剪辑的人你直接死五分钟去吧。
3.5 适合给那些喜欢把 ‘你怎样,你的中国就怎样’ 挂在嘴边的人看看,并且问问他们以此类推能否得到 ‘你怎样,你的世界就怎样’ 的结论 。 顺便扯点儿有的没的,人类对于女性的不尊重远比对gay的歧视要严重得多...
看得很难受的一部电影,直到最后她们也没有解脱出来。同时看到生命的差异性,我们生活在歌舞升平中,还有那么多人生活在水深火热中,要好好珍惜生活。
开头有些闷,但随后剧情变得越来越紧凑深刻,看了让人心情十分沉重的电影,那些表面光鲜的人性背后隐藏着极其恶劣的兽性,一个黑暗到无以复加的世界!蕾切尔·薇兹的演技好的没得说!
影片开篇有点沉闷 后三分之一渐渐给力。一句话:你知道的太多了。【制服缺爷露脸约一分半钟,酱油打的得心应手。