No holds barred for Sex Traffic
Tough, compelling miniseries personalizes business of international prostitution
By TIM ARSENAULT Tuned In

IF YOU'RE looking for television with a purpose, look no further than the Canadian-British co-production Sex Traffic.

The gritty two-parter airs Sunday and Monday at 8 p.m. on CBC. It personalizes the issue of trafficking women from Eastern Europe by taking a fictionalized look at two sisters who are unwittingly lured into an international prostitution ring.

"You can't understand the subject and become aware of it and research it like we did and explore the depths that we have without hoping that it makes an impact," actor Wendy Crewson said in a telephone interview from her Toronto home.

"The idea that it's cheaper to traffic a human life now than it is to traffic drugs is a startling and horrifying fact of our world. It's really easy to stay a little naive about it or a little blind to it.

"I think that's television at its very finest - that you are made aware of something."

Sex Traffic had a gala presentation at the recent Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax. Wayne Grigsby of Chester is executive producer of this international co-production with his company, Big Motion Pictures, and Britain's Granada Television for Channel 4 and the CBC.

Crewson (24, The Many Trials of One Jane Doe) plays Madeleine Harlsburgh, the head of U.S. defence contractor Kernwell International's charity foundation.

She encounters evidence that leads her to suspect her husband, Tom (Chris Potter), CEO of Kernwell, may be involved in a coverup involving the disappearance of young women.

Luke Kirby (Mambo Italiano) plays Callum Tate, a Canadian security officer working for Kernwell who witnesses sex trafficking and has the strongest piece of evidence against the company.

Based on research and testimony in Eastern Europe, the story centres around Elena and Vara, sisters who are trafficked through Romania, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Italy. They eventually make it to London, although by different routes.

Also among the international cast are Canadian actors Len Cariou (About Schmidt) as Magnus Herzoff, chairman of the board of Kernwell; Robert Joy (Fargo) as Maj. James Brooke; and Maury Chaykin (Nero Wolfe) as corporate lawyer Ernie Dwight.

British actor John Simm stars as Daniel Appleton, an investigator for a London-based charity.

The sisters are played by newcomers Anamaria Marinca and Maria Popistasu, whose natural performances are outstanding.

"You could tell on the set that they were stunning. They've never done any film work. They were both right out of theatre school in Romania," Crewson said.

"There's a great seriousness to their lives. There's a thoughtfulness that you don't see here so much and a real sort of political awareness."

The story of desperate and destitute women being steered into sexual slavery is sometimes difficult to watch. The filmmakers didn't flinch when it came to making their points.

"It's tough now to make compelling television. Your audience is weaned on different kinds of things. Reality shows have made it really hard," Crewson said.

"We have to rethink drama. Because people are sophisticated, in a sense. They want it immediately. It has to all come together in this startling and compelling way."

Kernwell, the fictional defence contractor, is based in Boston. Scenes set there were shot around Halifax during a period that included the February blizzard.

Viewers will see several shots in downtown Halifax with very high snowbanks in the background.

"We shot outside that whole week. And getting around was really tough. And it was bitterly cold. . . . It was hypothermia. I thought, 'I'm going to die,' " Crewson said.

"That (first) morning of the storm - and we knew it was coming - they decided they were going to go ahead and shoot, and it's the big opening charity dinner."

The fundraising gala organized by Crewson's character was shot at the Lord Nelson Hotel. Some in the production crew were skeptical that any footage would be shot.

"The town was shut down except us. We were shooting. We had a big party going on in the ballroom. And the Brits could not believe that the extras showed up in the storm. So I'm walking around like, 'Yeah, this is nothing for us Canadians,' " an ebullient Crewson recalled.

"It was so nice being there to witness that. How often do you get to see something like that?"

Madeleine Harlsburgh is one of the few characters in Sex Traffic who has scenes in both Boston and Europe. As a result, Crewson got to work with most of the behind-the-scenes people on the project.

"We had British crew, Canadian crew, Romanian crew. I love that sort of mix-it-all-up in the artistic community. Everybody brings a nice flavour and everybody gets to try something different."

The travels of Crewson's character allowed her to feel connected to the larger story, which plays out over four hours.

"I have to say it did feel like a sprawling picture. It felt that way when I first read it, though. The script arrived like a phone book."

Crewson's name was brought up by producers as a possible member of the Canadian contingent, but she ended up making initial contact in Hollywood.

"I was down in L.A., oddly enough, shooting the great Canadian series 24," Crewson joked.

(Series regulars Kiefer Sutherland and Elisha Cuthbert are from Canada, and Leslie Hope, born in Halifax, played Sutherland's wife in the first season of 24.)

"I was down there and they were in L.A. meeting Canadians. Because that's where you want to go to meet Canadians," she said.

"I read the script and I just loved it, and we had a long discussion about the politics of it and who these people were."

Crewson has just gotten back from Winnipeg, where she was shooting Niagara Motel. The feature film is an ensemble comedy written by George F. Walker (This is Wonderland).

She starts working next week in Montreal on another intense project, this time about United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, called Endgame in Kosovo.

"I had the summer off. I was fine. I had a good break," Crewson said.