A Woman Captured

If you've ever wondered what modern slavery looks like, you've come to the right place. Marish is 53 but appears much older. She has a day job in a factory in Hungary that's gruelling enough in itself, but has to hand over all her salary to a woman for whom she also cooks and cleans, and by whom she is repeatedly abused. Given only scraps and cigarettes, she endures unbelievable cruelty ("You're not worth anything!") and beatings (her arm is in a cast). She's been here ten years, and dreams of seeing her children, but is clearly terrified of being caught if she tries to escape... The miracle amid such horrors is that Marish (not her real name) can still smile. Her kindness and courtesy to film-maker Bernadett Tuza-Ritter in the face of her living nightmare will make you cry. At the end of one interview, she asks Tuza-Ritter for permission to stand up, and her reaction to the words "You can do whatever you want" suggests she has never heard that before, or anything like it. She is among 22,000 modern-day slaves in Hungary, and that's just the tip of the iceberg as far as Europe and the rest of the world are concerned. This powerful portrait of domestic servitude is a tough watch, and begs countless questions as it unfolds. It's an important and moving film, and one that's already had an impact in Hungary. It has a happy ending, too. If anyone deserves that, it's Marish.