Portal:Freedom of speech/Selected article/60

The Whistleblower is a 2010 thriller film directed by Larysa Kondracki, written by Kondracki and Eilis Kirwan and starring Rachel Weisz. The film was inspired by the story of Kathryn Bolkovac, a Nebraska police officer who was recruited as a peacekeeper for DynCorp International in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1999. While there, she discovered a sex trafficking ring serving (and facilitated by) DynCorp employees. Bolkovac was fired and forced out of the country after attempting to report (and shut down) the ring. She took the story to BBC News in England, and won a wrongful-dismissal lawsuit against DynCorp. Kondracki wanted her debut film to concern human trafficking, and encountered Bolkovac's story in college. She and Kirwan struggled to obtain financial support for the project. Eight years after Kondracki decided to produce the film, she secured funding and production began when Weisz agreed to play the lead role. Filming took place in Romania from October to December 2009. Advertised as a fictionalization of events occurring during the late 1990s, Kondracki said that the facts are broadly accurate but some details were omitted for the film; for example, a three-week "breaking-in" period for trafficking victims was not shown. The Whistleblower premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, and was released theatrically in the United States by Samuel Goldwyn Films in August 2011. The film received mixed reviews. The performances by Weisz and her co-stars were praised but the intense violence depicted in several scenes was debated by critics, with some calling it exploitive. Kondracki and Weisz responded that what happened in Bosnia had been toned down for the film. The Whistleblower received several awards and nominations, including the 2012 Genie Awards.