Due to the possibility of death, Buoyancy cannot be made as a documentary. This film, after all, sheds light on today’s real life slavery. But that doesn’t mean it’s no less true. The script was written based on interviews with real life survivors, who, of course, would rather not be filmed due to their safety. The characters were written to closely reflect them, which was why, even though the studio is Australian, they casted Thai and Cambodian actors, and wrote the dialogue in their respective languages. And the story that writer-director Rodd Rathjen created, gradually escalates the terror Chakra faces on the whims of a cruel captain, with each new experience slowly scrapping off the innocence that was supposed to be protected. Buoyancy is not a documentary, but it works as a necessary exposé of slavery in Southeast Asian seas because of Rathjen sticking true to the sadly real life atrocity.
"A taut and urgent message movie that tracks with pounding single-mindedness the horror of human trafficking..."
— Jessica Kiang
An innocent Cambodian boy is sold to a Thai broker and enslaved on a fishing trawler. As fellow slaves are tortured and murdered around him, he starts to wonder if his only hope of freedom is to become as violent as his captors.
Scounging for a better life, Chakra, a 14-year-old Cambodian boy, works grueling odd jobs to make ends meet. However, unbeknownst to him, one of the jobs he accepted turns out to be a slave labor, human trafficking scheme, taking him to a Thai fishing trawler with a cruel and arbitrary captain.
Sarm Heng’s performance.
It’s genuinely depressing how this was based on real life stories of survivors.
