Maya movie review

MOVIE TITLE: Maya

This chilling drama about the sex trade is now available on Video on Demand at Vudu and Apple TV.

RATING: PG-13

LENGTH: 1 hour 44 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE: B

IN A NUTSHELL:

The story is about a 15-year-old who is lured into a sex trafficking scheme while trying to escape from her alcoholic mother’s abusive boyfriend. The movie is inspired by true events.

Already, the film has won the Social Impact Award from the Raindance Film Festival. The movie was produced and funded by Verdin’s Artists for Change, a non-profit with a mission to educate and drive social change.

THINGS I LIKED:

The film does an excellent job showing how easy it is for disgusting predators to prey on vulnerable girls.
Isabella Johnson is a true beauty and nice, young actress.
Bruce Willis’ daughter, Rumer, has a role, as well as Patricia Velasquez, Rena Owen, Billy Budinich, and Glan Franco Rodriguez.
The first stop on the sex trade is Las Vegas. If you’ve ever been to the Vegas airport, you’ve probably seen the posters in the women’s bathroom stalls that have an emergency phone number, letting women know where they can call if they’ve been kidnapped.
Instead of just a movie about a trafficking, we see the difficult process of recovery too.
I’ve seen trafficking movies before where the victims are drugged out most of the time and being forced against their will. This movie is different. It shows how girls are pimped out by someone they think is their boyfriend, convincing themselves that they have willingly “work” in order to earn enough money for them to have a better life with their “boyfriend.”

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

Some of the characters are a bit over-the-top.
Movies like this make men look like complete monsters.
The whole idea of the sex trade is completely repulsive to me. I simply don’t understand how humans can treat their fellowman (in this case, girls) that way. While it’s not easy to watch movies like this, it’s important to be aware and on high alert.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

This is not an appropriate movie for kids; however, if you have a teenager daughter, you should, at the very least, talk about this.
We see some blood after various women get beat up
Drugs, alcohol
Firearms are used
People die with blood