Dirty Pretty Things (2002)
This is an excellent portrayal of the inexorable workings of an amoral market…an illustration of supply and demand in the grisly business of body parts. The main character, Okwe ( played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) an illegal immigrant to London, discovers that the hotel he works in is trafficking in body parts. As the manager informs him with cheerful callousness, “I am in the business of happiness.” According to him, it is a free exchange and everyone gets what he wants. Dirty Pretty Things shows the underground economy of illegal immigrants in gritty detail, with everything from sex to kidneys on the table (so to speak). Okwe at one point says, “We are the people you do not see. We are the ones who drive your cars, clean your rooms, suck your cocks.”
A note of warning: the movie is quite graphic and has some disturbing scenes of botched operations as well as some semi-explicit sex scenes. I would still highly recommend it, since these scenes are not gratuitous but an integral part of the film.
Discussion Questions for Dirty Pretty Things