How
does a white slavery ring work? The Uruguayan film Tricky
Life (En la Puta Vida), an obvious pun in the
translation from Spanish, demonstrates exactly how, using
a fictional heroine Elisa (played by Mariana Santángelo)
as a victim to expose a scam involving Uruguayans in Spain.
The story is based on Maria Urruzola's novel The Serpent's
Egg, which in turn is based on a real event. When the
film begins, Elisa leaves home with her two adorable children
in a huff; she can no longer tolerate her mother’s insults.
She immediately calls her boss for shelter, as he promised
to marry her on the following day and to supply her with funds
to start a beauty shop with her friend Lulú (played
by Andrea Fantoni). But her boss has just been stringing her
along to satisfy his chauvinistic sexual appetite; after he
finds temporary housing for Elisa and her two children, he
makes more promises, but Elisa no longer believes him. Elisa
and Lulú then look for a store to rent in order to
set up their beauty parlor, but they lack the funds. Accordingly,
they sell their bodies to raise the capital, becoming putas
(prostitutes). Along comes Placido (played by Silvestre),
who pretends to fall in love with Elisa. He promises that
she can make oodles of money in Barcelona if she will accompany
him there, including enough for a beauty parlor, with generous
remittances to be sent to her two children in the short time
required to amass the necessary capital, and the two are to
marry to provide a father to the children. Elisa and Lulú
foolishly swallow the bait and go to Spain on fake passports;
although the authorities immediately recognize that the passports
are bogus, they prefer to keep an eye on them in order to
catch bigger fish. Upon arrival in Barcelona, both women are
holed up in cheap accommodations, their passports are confiscated
by their pimp, they are told where to stand in the "red
light" district (on the opposite side of the street from
the noisy Brazilians, that is), and all their trick money
is collected as soon as they complete seven-minute blowjobs.
Whenever Elisa gets restless, Placido takes her out to an
expensive place or bullshits her about marriage plans. No
funds are sent to her children, as promised, so they are placed
in an orphanage. One day Lulú is found dead on the
street. Elisa comes forward to the police, eager to sell Placido
down the river. A trial occurs. Placido and other pimps are
sent to jail for more than ten years each. Elisa, however,
cannot return to Uruguay because her possession of a fake
passport would mean immediate arrest upon arrival in Montevideo.
Marcelo (played by Josep Linuesa), the policeman who hears
Elisa’s story and secures safety for her before and after
the trial, then arranges for her to go to Uruguay, where the
Spanish Embassy collects her. It is in the interest of Spain
to expose the racket involving corrupt Uruguayan officials
that results in polluting the streets of Barcelona and enriching
the coffers of the criminal underworld. Elisa then speaks
out, becomes a heroine, Montevideo prostitutes leave the cathouse
where she once plied her trade, she is reunited with her children,
and soon she has funds for a beauty parlor in a very desirable
location. Marcelo then comes to see her at the site where
she will open her shop before his return trip to Spain, but
of course that is a trip that he never makes. Titles at the
end point out that the Uruguay-Spain white slavery racket
still exists with new pimps and new prostitutes, so the film
is quintessentially what the Political Film Society calls
an exposé. Directed by Beatriz Flores Silva, the Political
Film Society has nominated Tricky Life for two
awards -- as best film exposé and best film on human
rights for 2002. MH
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