Movie Review: Very Young Girls

On Monday the rompers attended a screening at Simmons College of the Showtime expose Very Young Girls. This heartbreaking film explores human trafficking of young women in America through interviews with young women who led "the life," footage filmed by two pimps and documentary style segments about the mentoring program, GEMS (Girls Education and Mentoring Services). The first half of the film focuses on how some of the young women entered into the world of human trafficking, which includes talking head interviews as well as visits to the streets the girls used to work. This section includes footage provided by two pimps, who filmed some of their work in hopes of creating a cable tv show based on their lives. The second half of the film follows some of the young women through the rehabilitation program, GEMS, which works to help girls find a better life through continuing their eduction and finding employment. Many of the girls "relapse" into the life several times before they are able to break free of the abusive cycle and truly desire a better life.

Very Young Girls provides a great deal of insight into how the human trafficking industry works and how the cycle begins for many young women. Some of girls featured in the film spoke of abusive, neglected, or violent home lives while others mentioned escaping a group home or taking the subway to the wrong stop. Regardless of the situation, significantly older men preyed upon vulnerable young girls, feeding their inherent need for love and guidance, drawing the girls in with promises of love, only to hinge that love upon economic necessity. In an interview one girl spoke of "love as I know it," which became entangled with sex and money, rather than unconditional affection. The girls' relationship to their pimps takes the form of Stockholm's Syndrome with severe emotional attachment as the girls know no other life.

The issues presented in Very Young Girls are compelling and important. While overall the film is strong and presents the crux of the human trafficking problem quite well, a few elements could use further clarification. Much of the footage provided by the two pimps is difficult to understand because the sound quality is so poor, as are the images. If the editors had provided closed captioning for this portion and perhaps provided clearer links between the girls in the pimps' car and those in the interviews. A few minor changes would have increased the clarity of the film and all the facets of the situation it attempts to present. It is a shame that this film is not more widely screened or discussed as the issue of human trafficking in the US is a huge, yet widely ignored problem.

- KER