Good intentions will only get you so far.
Husband-and-wife team of actor Kate Bosworth and director/writer Michael Polish intended to put a human face on the unspeakable horrors of human trafficking with the drama "Nona." They eventually make their point, but the journey is treated with such a lazy attitude that the overall production never hits with the emotional force intended.
The story is definitely timely. Nona (Sulem Calderon) is a young woman who lives on the edge of poverty in a shantytown in Honduras. She has dreams of becoming a makeup artist and traveling to the United States to be with her mother. Both require money she doesn't have.
Her luck seems to change when she meets the charming Hecho (Jesy McKinney). He's traveling with a broken heart and offers to take Nona to the U.S. Either swayed by his charm, her love of her mother or a need to rise above the world where she's living, Nona agrees and the pair begin their travels north via train, bus, car and on foot. It isn't until too late that Nona realizes Hecho's true intentions.
And, it isn't until too late that Polish gets to the point of the production. The opening moments establish Nona and her world. She's surviving where the most recession-proof business is providing funeral services. Nona's only friend is a mannequin head she paints and chats with over yet another meal of beans and rice.
If Nona is to represent all the people with potential who are held down by circumstance, then Polish establishes that quickly. He also makes it clear in an abbreviated way how life can turn ugly with one bad decision when Nona ends up forced into a life of prostitution.
The problem is getting from point A to B. Instead of focusing on the human elements that are the heart of the story, Polish becomes more enamored with the countryside in Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. Endless scenes of the pair show their way through rolling pastures and large cities. The movie shifts from a powerful story about the oppression of the human spirit and becomes a fun-in-the-sun travelogue. A little of this would have been OK, but the trek takes up the majority of the movie.
Even the ending comes across with a soft hand. "Nona" should have been a harsh contrast of how even a life of unattained potential is better than one of brutal oppression. But Polish soft pedals Nona's time as a prostitute to the point of moments when the film suggests that except for the sex part, life in a brothel isn't all that bad. In a film created to show the horrors of the world, such an approach is a massive mistake.
The best thing to come out of "Nona" is the introduction of Calderon with her professional acting debut. She brings an energy to the performance that makes Nona likable enough that the long journey becomes a little more tolerable. It is just a shame that so much of the work is her travels and not her emotional struggles.
Polish and Bosworth get points for making a movie about one of the vilest situations going on in the world. Even an effort that comes up short on presentation may at least alert a few people to human trafficking. It would have been more memorable had Polish been more inclined to deal with the dark side of the tale and less with the road trip.
