Eden (2013)

Eden
Director: Megan Griffiths
Cast: Jamie Chung, Beau Bridges, Scott Mechlowicz, Matt O'Leary
Rated: R
Running Time: 96 Minutes

There're are few issues more rage inducing which exist today than the subject of human trafficking. Thousands of women and children stripped from their homes for a grim and unrelenting future of suffering by the hands of those who treat the abuse of their own kind as nothing more than a simple corporation; not unlike that of an accounting firm. It's disturbing, horrifying, and made all the more unsettling that it currently exists in the United States today. In terms of provoking a response from the audience, director Megan Griffiths is essentially pitched a narrative softball for her film. Eden is the true story of an Asian-American 19-year old who is abducted by a man impersonating a firefighter, and is taken by force into the stark and brutal life of sexual slavery. Adding to the outrage, this division of the trafficking organization isn't orchestrated by an ordinary criminal, but rather a local government official. This should be one of the most controversial, fury inducing features of the year. However, the film fails not because of ineptitude, but rather because it fails to provoke any emotion at all. For a film attempting to dissect one of the most disturbing criminal acts from a personal perspective, this is one of the most surprisingly generic films of the year.

It'd be simple to completely dismiss the film, but it's difficult to determine where the origins of this lack of originality and emotional power lie. Jamie Chung gives a subtly compelling performance as the passive aggressive catch of the traffickers, as does Grace Arends as a fellow captive. Beau Bridges is enjoyably evil as the leader of the organization, and Scott Mechlowicz is fine as the gleefully profane meth-addicted employee in charge of delivering the girls to their appointments. Throw in some unique direction from Griffiths, a solid screenplay from Rick Phillips Jr., and compliment it with the stirring subject matter. Continuing the cookbook theme of this paragraph, it's as if the producers threw a dozen hot peppers into a pot, and then inexplicably came out with oatmeal. This is a movie that cannot provoke an emotional response, but the biggest question involves figuring out why.

Eden is a difficult film to discuss, because while its perfectly competent by its own merits, it fails to deliver the type of empathetic assault seemingly guaranteed by the subject matter. This isn't an example of expectations clashing with reality: It's a feature which needs to have emotion sorely lacking it. I'd almost wish the film provoked an incredibly negative response just so that it provoked any response at all. When dealing with human trafficking, indifference is far worse than hatred.