Who produced the documentary Nefarious: Merchant of Souls?
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"Nefarious" was written, directed, produced and narrated by Benjamin Nolot, founder and president of Exodus Cry, the film's distributor. Nolot, who travelled to 19 countries to collect the film's content, said that the purpose of the film is "to draw people's attention to the issue, but also to inspire them in terms of what they can be doing … to take a stand against this injustice." The film was officially released on July 27, 2011, with individual grassroots screenings also taking place. Laila Mickelwait, Exodus Cry's director of awareness and prevention, screened the film in several countries in an attempt to persuade governments to make laws similar to Sweden's "Sex Purchase Act", which criminalizes the purchasing rather than the selling of sex. The film was released on home video on May 1, 2012.
Nefarious: Merchant of Souls
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Filming of "Nefarious" was started in 2007, marking Nolot's film debut. The initial plan was to create a short film, but the project was expanded when Exodus Cry realized the scope of the issue they were documenting. Nolot, a leader in Mike Bickle's International House of Prayer, travelled to 19 countries to collect material for the film. These filming locations included countries in the Middle East, Europe, North America, and Asia. Nolot attested to having found it difficult to produce the film due to the subject matter; he stated that "there is not a day that goes by that I am not mindful of the horrific tragedies we uncovered." He further said that he did not make the film for money or for fame but did so in order to rouse people to action against human trafficking, an issue that he feels to be of great importance. Nolot said that the purpose of the film is "to draw people's attention to the issue, but also to inspire them in terms of what they can be doing … to take a stand against this injustice." Steve Willis and Matthew Dickey were the film's cinematographers. Willis, founder of Underpin Photography, also served as photographer while Dickey filled the roles of associate producer and editor, also directing the re-enactment scenes. Actors in these re-enactment scenes included Bill Oberst Jr., Christian Simpson (as Christian J. Simpson), Allison Weissman, Sarah Agor, and Jess Allen. John Samuel Hanson composed the film score for "Nefarious" after having worked on such other projects as "16 Blocks", "Constantine", "The Book of Eli", and "Lost". As of January 2012, Nolot was producing two sequels to "Nefarious".
Nefarious: Merchant of Souls
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"Nefarious" was written, directed, produced, and narrated by Benjamin Nolot, founder and president of Exodus Cry. Exodus Cry, which distributed the film, is headquartered in Grandview, Missouri and is an organization that opposes human trafficking by raising awareness, by reintegrating victims back into society, and by prayer. Nolot founded Exodus Cry in 2007 after a woman he did not know gave him , saying that God told her to do so in order that Nolot might found an anti-human-trafficking organization. This was founded at a prayer meeting later that year where attendees prayed for human trafficking victims. The organization claims that this prayer meeting occurred on the day before the announcement of the 2007 international child pornography investigation, which involved approximately 2,400 human-trafficking-related arrests in 77 countries.
Nefarious: Merchant of Souls
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Nefarious: Merchant of Souls is a 2011 American documentary film about modern human trafficking, specifically sexual slavery. Presented from a Christian worldview, "Nefarious" covers human trafficking in the United States, Western and Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia, alternating interviews with re-enactments. Victims of trafficking talk about having been the objects of physical abuse and attempted murder. Several former prostitutes talk about their conversion to Christianity, escape from sexual oppression, and subsequent education or marriage. The film ends with the assertion that only Jesus can completely heal people from the horrors of sexual slavery.
Nefarious: Merchant of Souls
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"Nefarious: Merchant of Souls" documents modern human trafficking, specifically sexual slavery. While there are men and boys who are trafficked around the world, the United States Department of State (DoS) estimates that about 80% of human trafficking victims are female, and the film focuses on them. Information is presented from a Christian worldview—despite the subject matter, there is no profanity or nudity in the film, although there are scenes showing alcohol consumption and women wearing skimpy clothing.
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Interviewees in the film include Canadian journalist Victor Malarek, Jerusalem Institute of Justice founder Calev Myers, Christian therapist Dan Allender, clinical psychologist Melissa Farley, Piet Keesman, Baptist missionary Lauran Bethell, Agape International Missions founder Don Brewster, anti-trafficking activist Helen Sworn, former prostitute Annie Lobert, and Swedish detective superintendent Kajsa Wahlberg. Ted Baehr of "Movieguide", a Christian magazine, called the film "a powerful, compelling and transformational documentary about human trafficking and sex slavery" and commented that it covered the inherently sexual subject matter candidly without displaying nudity. Dan Preston of "Godculture Magazine" praised Nolot's writing and directing. "Nefarious" has won film awards, including the Honolulu Film Award for best screenplay, the Urban Mediamakers Film Festival best documentary feature award, and the Indie Fest feature documentary award of excellence.
Nefarious: Merchant of Souls
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"Nefarious" asserts that there is a link between the international sex industry and legal prostitution in the Western world, and that those who create the demand for forced prostitution around the world are of a wide variety of ages and are often considered respectable. The film contrasts the secretiveness and brutality of the sex industry in Eastern Europe with the openness of public prostitution in the Netherlands. "Nefarious" suggests that sex trafficking in Southeast Asia is fuelled largely by the complicity of the victims' parents, with many in Cambodia grooming and then knowingly selling their daughters into prostitution to pay for luxury goods. The film asserts that 10% of the population of Moldova has been sexually trafficked. "Nefarious" contrasts Las Vegas prostitutes with victims of sex trafficking in Europe, depicting the former as drawn into the sex industry by dreams of a glamorous lifestyle, and the latter as made vulnerable by child abandonment and orphanages.
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Both Jim Uttley of "Indian Life Newspaper" and Pastor Jamie Bagley of "The News of Cumberland County" called "Nefarious" "hard-hitting". Uttley further asserted that "Nefarious" "is not an easy film to watch because it deals with a subject that most of us would rather ignore", and he went on to highly recommend the film. Jimmy Stewart of "Charisma" reported that the film gives a human face to trafficking statistics and instils a desire in the viewer to put an end to such criminal activity. Ted Baehr of "Movieguide", a Christian magazine, called the film "a powerful, compelling and transformational documentary about human trafficking and sex slavery" and wrote that it was amazing that the film covered an inherently sexual topic both honestly and without nudity. Baehr praised the cinematography, editing, and filmmaking, but criticized some portions of the film as being repetitive and uncompelling. The "Movieguide" review ends by comparing the film's opposition to modern slavery to the death of Saint Telemachus, which put an end to gladiatorial games in ancient Rome. Erica Yunghans of "Star News Daily" called the film "controversial".
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"Nefarious" explores how sex trafficking differs from country to country, and suggests that all the victims are both psychologically and emotionally enslaved. One of the initial assertions in the film is that slavery has not been abolished but is increasing, and that half of this slavery is sexual in nature. "Nefarious" identifies political corruption and difficult socioeconomic situations as elements that prevent sex slaves from escaping exploitation, and suggests that most victims do not survive for more than seven years after initially being trafficked. While the violent acquisition of sex slaves depicted in the first sequence of the film does occur in reality, Jimmy Stewart of "Charisma" wrote that most girls who are sexually trafficked in Europe are recruited through a fraudulent offer of employment and an improved lifestyle overseas, neither of which ultimately materializes in the new country.
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In "News Weekly", Babette Francis called "Nefarious" a "ground-breaking documentary". Tiffany Owens of "World", a Christian magazine, praised the film, describing its storytelling as compelling and vivid. Jamie Rake of "The Phantom Tollbooth" called the film "an engrossing, sometimes appropriately gross, exposé [that] sounds a clarion cry against … modern slavery". Rake praises the re-enactments for being appropriately ominous, and for demonstrating the dehumanization and abuse that characterize sexual trafficking. He suggests that the film is a modern version of "This Is the Life", a Christian television series that dealt with social issues, and that, if Nolot applied for a Motion Picture Association of America film rating, it would be given a PG-13 rating. Dan Preston of "Godculture Magazine" called the film "a hands-on, grimy, honest, explorative piece of journalism". Preston praised Nolot's writing and directing. Jennifer Cheng of the "South China Morning Post" called the film "unnerving" and wrote that it "offers a glimpse into how organized crime, abuse, greed, lust and humiliation intertwine to make human trafficking possible."
Nefarious: Merchant of Souls