When
it comes to his treatment of women, James Bond has never been a nice
man. That’s part of his retrograde charm. But in "Skyfall," the newest
installment of the Bond franchise, Agent 007 reaches a new level of
not-niceness: having sex with and otherwise exploiting a captive victim
of sexual trafficking. And it’s not at all charming to professional
advocates for victims of sexual violence and trafficking.
On
Thursday night I saw a screening of the film, which opens nationwide
today (and which I otherwise enjoyed). Here’s a quick summary of the
relevant plot thread, with some spoilers:
At
a casino in Macau, Bond meets Sévérine, a woman he believes to be
working for Silva, the film’s villain. Bond notices a distinctive tattoo
on her wrist that identifies her as a former brothel worker and
correctly guesses that she is not, in fact, Silva’s employee but his
captive, bought or stolen out of the brothels to serve him. She agrees
to lead Bond to Silva on the promise that he will kill the villain. They
part ways. In the following scene, Sévérine, who believes Bond to be
dead, is in the shower when he enters, naked, and initiates sex. In the
following scene, they arrive at Silva’s stronghold, and Silva promptly
kills Sévérine.
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