DOCUMENTARY; M, 1hr 26min
DIRECTOR: Justin Dillon

From the US to India, Cambodia and Africa, the stats on human slavery run into millions (a million people are trafficked each year in the US alone). Call + Response is about the groundswell of corresponding righteous anger from musicians, pundits and actors. Musicians Moby, Imogen Heap, Natasha Bedingfield (among a stack of others) perform in a Concert to End Slavery, bolstered by to-camera commentary from the disparate likes of egghead Cornel West, former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and actresses Julia Ormond and Ashley Judd. Their input is clumsily collated by muso Justin Dillon and intercut with observations from abused women and girls and on-the-fly location footage.

Judd, for one, would like to see “rage ... converted into compassionate action” and this is certainly a try-hard start. Donation-funded and action-driven (the production notes report that profits from the film and its soundtrack will be used for rehabilitation and training projects) C+R labours and labours its point but hits home sporadically as a mine of appalling information.

Andiee's Rating: **