When "Lilya 4-ever" premiered in Sweden 15 years ago, it shattered many hearts and gave fire to a debate on human trafficking that would last for years. I finally watched Moodysson's amazing film and it broke my heart too.Twitter: @7thArtShortRevs (Mårten Larsson).

This movie suggests that life is dreary, boring and depressing in the general area of ex-USSR countries, and in the winter things go from bad to worse. The people are mean, poor drunkards, the scenery consists of gray concrete blocks and there is nothing to do but smell glue. Well, I'm from Finland, and I've visited Estonia, Ukraine and Russia and I have to say that the movie does its portrayal jokingly and lovingly. Obviously there are all kinds of depressing situations all over the world and I don't see that the movie is singling out this area. What it is saying is that these hellish circumstances are reality for some, that there exists darkness and filth in the world, and it is easy to forget, or ignore, living in a first-world apartment complex. It also shows how thin the line between 'first-world' and 'ghetto' can be.It's a tragic story of a girl, an individual, but into her story there is loaded a lot of social commentary. It is difficult to discuss the movie without delving into its agenda, its subject, its political themes. It's a movie about human trafficking, a touchy subject and a touching one, but where Liam Neeson's 'Taken' uses that backdrop to show us a fast-paced action thriller, Lukas Moodysson's 'Lilja 4-Ever' knows how difficult saving people truly is and how deep-rooted the issues here are.

'Lilya 4-Ever' is hugely bleak. You shake your head as Lilya (Oksana Akinshina) is manipulated and abused. I read somewhere that this film is 'torture porn', nonsense, despite the sleazy, damning impression it leaves on you, it's a very tastefully made film. It's unremittingly depressing, but always tasteful.It's somewhat one-track in its storytelling; almost everyone is callous, abusive and indifferent about Lilya's well-being, none more so than her mother, who deserts her, initiating Lilya's dive into veritable squalor. I can understand how these people are going to be embittered by their tough, filthy neighbourhood, but some of the characters' cruelty and selfishness border on evil. Her only friend is Volodya (Artyom Bogucharsky), a young admirer of hers who is always thinking in her best interest. The young pair give terrifically natural performances, which help achieve the film's aura of hyperrealism.Much like films such as 'Import/Export', the camera captures the striking, achromatic landscapes of Eastern European housing projects. The scale of its anaemic bleakness that is visually arresting.The total deprivation in this film makes one appreciative of not only family and friends but basic commodities too. Lilya is thrown into a world of abject poverty, where the living conditions are so desperate that we see her attempting to sell her few, worthless possessions on a street corner. Lilya and Volodya frequently talk about a better life, but they're both so tragically far away from their fantasies. Inevitably, she discovers that prostitution is the most lucrative way of assuring she has the resources to be able to live and maybe even achieve her dreams.Throughout the film, I wanted to reach into the screen and cradle the sweet little Oksana Akinshina, attacking anyone who wanted to exploit her for whatever disgusting purpose. The film puts an innocent, sympathetic face on prostitution, an industry that's unfairly maligned and condemned by society. In fact, the film puts an innocent, sympathetic face on the underclass; its candid hyperrealism gives you a vivid portrait of total and utter destitution, helping you understand and empathise with their lamentable lives. www.hawkensian.com

This was not a good movie for the following reasons: 1. The dialog lacks completely of style and contents.2. Several scenes seem contrived. I get to wonder, is this how girls debut as prostitutes? Do really a boy on the street become the only friend of a teenage girl like this? Do young boys look and act like Andrei when they fool girls in this way? Does a teenage girl left by her mother really jump into the mud? Do polish pimps act exactly this way? Are not usually the stories and the moral in trafficking much more complex than this? Is really a lady of 16 in Estonia so helpless?3. I do not feel that I learned anything about reality in the movie. The political context is not treated, the psychological portraits are narrow. There would be lots of different things that could have been made interesting, like the Estonian family background, the structure in the youth culture, the techniques of illegal trafficking, and the Western consumers of these young women. As it is made in this film, it is all stereotypes that even I could have written with my scanty knowledge.4. The supernatural parts, with the wings, heaven and afterlife feel embarrassing.5. The camera work is mediocre at best.The good about watching this movie is that it makes you see what amazing works other movies like Requiem for a Dream and Christiane F are.