I Am Slave (2010)

A thriller set in London's slave trade and centered on a woman's fight for freedom.

Director:

Gabriel Range

Writer:

Jeremy Brock (screenplay)

Stars:

Wunmi Mosaku, Isaach De Bankolé, Lubna Azabal

2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Wunmi Mosaku	...	Malia
Isaach De Bankolé	...	Bah
Lubna Azabal
Yigal Naor	...	Said
Hiam Abbass
Nonso Anozie
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nyokabi Gethaiga	...	Hana
Nasser Memarzia	...	Ibrahim
Selva Rasalingam	...	Amir
Amaar Sardharwalla	...	Assi
Jameel Sardharwalla	...	Rami

Storyline

Based on the real-life experiences of Mende Nazer,the story unfolds as twelve-year-old Malia,daughter of champion wrestler Bah,is abducted from her Sudanese village in the Nubar Mountains by pro-government Arab militia and sold into slavery to a woman in Khartoum,who beats her for touching her daughter. After six years she is sent to London,where her name is changed,but her miserable life of servitude continues. Her passport is taken and she is told that her father will die if she goes to the authorities. Fortunately she meets a sympathetic person who seems to offer her the hope of escape and reunion with Bah,back in Sudan. For all the film's optimism an end title states that there are around 5,000 'slave' workers currently in Britain.

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Plot Keywords:

slave | sudan | village | sudanese | slavery | 

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Genres:

Thriller

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Details

Country:

UK

Release Date:

10 January 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Eimai sklava

Filming Locations:

Kenya

Company Credits

Production Co:

Altered Image, Borough Picture Company, Potboiler Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Mistress: If you ever try to speak to anyone outside this house, my husband will have your family killed.
Malia: [dropping to her knees] Please!
Mistress: You need to understand, if you disobey again your father dies.

User Reviews

People need to see this!

Like other reviewers, I am appalled at what that idiot Demitrius has written. What an insensitive and ignorant person he is!

I am Slave is listed on IMDb as a thriller but, for what my opinion is worth, it should also be listed as a documentary. I acknowledge that depends on how true the story actually is of course - but I am taking into account the notes at the beginning of the closing credits. I don't believe that this sort of thing is exclusive to Sudan either. After all, it happened in huge numbers a couple of centuries ago in West Africa when thousands of black natives were "exported" as slaves to the Americas.

This movie should be compulsory viewing in schools so that our children can learn about the inhumanities that man shows to man. Maybe it will incense many, as it did me, to strive in whatever small way they can to end this sort of thing. We live in relative luxury in western society and many turn a blind eye to atrocities right on our own doorsteps and it isn't good enough!

What's even worse is that the people Malia was enslaved to could just as easily paid her a fair wage and made her part of their family and, at least, given her a reasonable life and some dignity (bearing in mind that they didn't abduct her in the first place - they were "given" her by her evil mistress's evil sister.) Did those loathsome women derive some sort of sadistic pleasure from their treatment of a submissive young woman for whom a simple smile was an effort?

I have rated this film 9 - not for the acting or the cinematography or the directing (all of which are OK by the way) but for the MESSAGE - which is why I believe it should be categorised as a documentary. Certainly not light entertainment but, equally certainly, compulsive viewing!