Global Peace Film Fest is an annual event held in Orlando. This year members of the RCC 100: Writing About Social Justice and Community class attended and wrote reviews on a selection of the films. Read all reviews here.
It is simply intolerable to hide from the appalling issues presented that we prefer and have become accustomed to ignoring. Throughout this film, it is impossible to cast your eyes upon the floor, especially when the scenes thrust upon you are of raw, mutilating, all-consuming pain. La Guayaba, written by Maximilaiano Gonzalez, shares the journey of Florencia–a young Argentinian girl–reluctant, yet enticed by the opportunity to make extra money. All too trustingly, Florencia winds up being forced into a world she has never known. It is a terrifying world where one’s body is merely seen as property that will be passed around hundreds of times, where all self-preservation is lost. This film has the intention of informing the audience on the terrors of current-day sex trafficking and prostitution. The film takes the form of a narrative feature; however, while Florencia and her story may be fiction, the perils presented are all too real. There are multiple instances in which the bartender doubling as the “house doctor” drugs and injects the girls. The film is consumed by blood-curdling screams and close-ups on giant syringes forced into Florencia’s pelvic region.
Unfortunately, while the film is able to capture the attention of the audience, I walked away with sentiments of pure disgust accompanied by an overwhelming weight of helplessness. To my disappointment, no solution is presented. For these girls, death is thirstily accepted while all hopes of freedom, escape and rescue are lost. Walking away with such prominent images of horror and destitution, the audience is left speechless and grappling for a way in which we can make a change, not simply be informed.
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