“Was the dark of the moon on the sixth of June In a Kenworth pullin‘ logs Cab-over Pete with a reefer on And a Jimmy haulin’ hogs We is headin‘ for bear on I-one-oh ’Bout a mile outta Shaky Town I says, “Pig Pen, this here’s the Rubber Duck ”And I’m about to put the hammer down”
The North American truckers had themselves a convoy, and in this instance, when these workers of the world united (against the vaccination)—just like Karl Marx had proclaimed they'd unite—ironically, the socialists protested. God bless the truckers.Other Truckers
There’s a chilling scene in “Catch the Fair One” of many 18-wheeler trucks parked at a truck stop in an undetermined, presumably Northern state. Not chilling because it’s winter, but because underage Native American sex-trafficked girls are being peddled to take care of trucker needs. This is part of the very real, seamy underside of the trucking industry.“Catch the Fair One” isn’t about the truckers but about the girls; namely, one Native woman’s quest to find her trafficked little sister.
That Native woman is Kaylee “K.O.” Uppashaw (Kali Reis), a former boxing champion who is now down on her luck, and battling addiction. She lives in a women’s shelter and waitresses at a local greasy-spoon diner. Her mother, Jaya (Kimberly Guerrero), runs a grief support group for relatives of trafficked Native girls.
Kaylee and Jaya’s missing sister/daughter Weeta (Mainaku Borrero) disappeared two years ago. In a heartbreaking scene, Kaylee expresses anguish when her stone-faced mother clearly wishes Weeta had stayed and Kaylee had disappeared.
What her mother doesn’t know is that while Kaylee appears to be back in training, she’s not training in boxing but in the lethal aspects of jiu-jitsu. Why? She’s been secretly hunting Weeta’s captors. She’s finally uncovered the tracks of the kidnappers, and she’s committed to the death to bring resolution and revenge.
It’s Not a Female ‘Taken’
Based on an original story co-written with Reis, screenwriter and director Josef Kubota Wladyka’s gritty, black-and-blue-colored drama will leave your emotions bruised black-and-blue. It’s a bare-bones, topical thriller that would like to turn the proverbial flashlight on and expose the roaches hiding in the dark, in the underlit areas of truck stops as well as in the cold, black-and-blue McMansions of the those human predators further up the food chain.
The film is as cutting-edge as the razor blade that Kaylee hides in her cheek, leaving her pillow bloodstained in the morning. Kali Reis—a former WBC middleweight world champion herself as well as a very talented actress—who is a determined advocate for indigenous rights, and director Wladyka are not out to let us enjoy some comfortable entertainment.
This minimalistic character study contains a violent ferocity that’s not for the weak of heart, and the catharsis of a trafficking film like “Taken,” where a former CIA assassin (Liam Neeson) goes to rescue his daughter from Albanian traffickers with immensely satisfying revenge payoffs, is nowhere to be found here. Neither should it be. We’re talking about an inhuman reality that the human world needs to sit in collective shame about.
“Catch the Fair One” should be required viewing. We need to support our truckers but also support the cause of the countless indigenous girls who disappear or are murdered every year in America. God bless the missing girls here, and everywhere, and the millions of families that miss them.
