Sacrifice: The Story of Child Prostitutes from Burma 1998
Distributed by The Film Library, 190 Route 17M, P.O. Box 1084, Harriman, NY 10926; 800-343-5540
Produced by Ellen Bruno
Directed by Ellen Bruno
VHS, color, 48 min.
College - Adult
Adolescence, Asian Studies, Human Rights, Sociology, Women's Studies
Date Entered: 10/25/2005
Reviewed by Linda Frederiksen, Washington State University, Vancouver, WARuled since 1962 by a brutal military junta, Burma (Myanmar) is one of the world’s poorest countries. Once the world’s largest exporter or rice, the country is now more frequently associated with economic sanctions and human rights violations. For rural hill tribes, ethnic discrimination by the government has meant property seizure, displacement, imprisonment, and death. To help their suffering families and because they feel it is the karma of being born female, many young girls from these areas go to work in the brothels of Thailand, suffering years of abuse before returning to their homes.
Contrasting the lush beauty of the land with the horrors of these girls lives, documentary filmmaker and international relief worker Bruno combines both to tell a moving story about the causes and effects of human trafficking. Interviews with several of the girls and narrated in a child’s innocent voice by Yiga Josayma, the film provides an intimate perspective to a heart-breaking drama. Recommended.