I Am All Girls
Parents say
Based on 1 review
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I Am All Girls
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this movie.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that I Am All Girls is a South African thriller inspired by true events about an investigator working to shut down an international human trafficking ring. There also seems to be a killer on the loose taking matters into their own hands. Expect blood, guns, death, and a significant amount of implied sexual violence, child rape, and abuse. There are scenes of human trafficking, kids in restraints being moved from place to place, kids found in shipping containers, kids in a brothel, kids being bought and sold. VHS videotapes are played of men approaching little girls in bedrooms. No rape or sexual content is directly shown, but both are heavily implied. People are also violently tasered, shot, punched, beaten, and tied up. Men are also killed by gunshots to their chests and heads, and afterwards are always shown with various letters carved into their chests. Cadaver pictures are shown of these men frequently. Strong language includes: "f-k," "f--king," "s--t," "a--hole," and "damn."
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What's the Story?
In I AM ALL GIRLS, Jodie (Erica Wessels) is an investigator about to break open a decades-old human trafficking case. Meanwhile, a serial killer seems to be targeting pedophiles, leaving them all with different letters carved into their chests. Jodie's friend and colleague, Ntombi (Hlubi Mboya), also assists the case, but she has her own reasons for doing so.
Is It Any Good?
This South African thriller is good, but quite by-the-book, despite it working from factual source material. While the plot differs from what happened historically, I Am All Girls still has a strong and important message. What it lacks in actual information is replaced with a taut thriller that follows two strong and gay women leads working to stop human trafficking. But this movie is also a revenge thriller, as a vigilante steadily picks off villain after villain. While it often verges more into the stock trades of this kind of thriller (research montages, police procedural dialogue, shootouts, glory kills, chase scenes), the stakes and emotional weight of what everyone is fighting for remains solid. The brutality of trafficked kids is shown often (but not the sexual abuse directly), on their faces, in their tears, and in the adult faces of those around them, even if these adults are part of the system. Further, the fact that well over half a million women are trafficked each year and well over half of them are kids is crushingly tragic and hard to accept. Even worse, only 1% of these women and kids are ever recovered.
As far as representation goes, I Am All Girls features strong performances from its two stars, but many viewers might wonder why the film wasn't only about Ntombi or mainly about her and not the White woman investigator, Jodie?
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about human trafficking and sexual violence in film. Do you think I Am All Girls represents these accurately and considerately? Why or why not?
Do you think it's important to realistically show the brutality of human trafficking or only imply it? Why?
Discuss vigilantism in film. How did it feel rooting for main characters you knew were flawed? How do we justify their vigilante actions, even if those who end up harmed deserved it? How do superhero movies handle this, for example?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming: May 14, 2021
- Cast: Erica Wessels, Hlubi Mboya, Deon Lotz, Mothusi Magano
- Director: Donovan Marsh
- Studio: Netflix
- Genre: Thriller
- Topics: Activism
- Run time: 107 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: February 28, 2022
Our Editors Recommend
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Joy (2019)
Intense drama about sex trafficking has lots of violence.
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I Am Jane Doe
Wrenching doc about underage sex trafficking, legal battles.
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Girl Model
Candid look at a sometimes-frightening industry.
For kids who love thrills
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