1) What was the name of the song over the opening credits? Artist? Am I crazy or was it saying something like "I want a white girl because it's white world???"""
2) Is it just or me or did parts of the movie seem scripted or staged??? Why were no body's faces blurred ever???? Everyone just wanted to be a part of this movie about prostitutes and johns???
I missed the first couple of minutes so maybe there was a disclaimer that I failed to see.
(1) The song is called "Taxi" by Tricky, and it says indeed:
"I'm-a get me a white girl
'Cause it's a big white world"
(2) It didn't seem scripted or staged to me. On the film's official website, the director explains that it was a long process to get permission and gain the prostitutes' trust to film. An excerpt:
"All of the working girls were initially reluctant to speak on film. A brothel is THE place where you are most unwelcome with a film camera. It is a place of secrecy and privacy for both workers and customers. So in the beginning nobody wants to be filmed or photographed. Establishing trust is a very long process. It took a lot of time, patience and persistence. I had to promise the women that the film would not be shown in wide theatrical release in their home countries. With the customers, it was sometimes more difficult because they are not usually the same ones everyday. But like the workers, frequent customers opened up once they got the feeling that we were not there to condemn what they do. In some cases we couldn't film because not all the customers wanted to be in the film. Then we selected the ones who were willing and for that period of time nobody else could enter the establishment. But there is no situation in the film that would not take place like in the way it is shown."
http://www.whoresglory.com/director-comments-2.htm
The directors' comments on that page are very interesting - highly recommended.
There is also an interview with the director in an Austrian newspaper (in German unfortunately), where the director answers the question whether scenes were staged: http://www.kleinezeitung.at/freizeit/kino/venedig/2821198/michael-glaw ogger-interview.story
He says that money changed hands and that they had to "adapt their filming to the working girls' rhythm". Now this can mean they had to pay for certain scenes to be played out (because not everyone agreed to be filmed) but I don't think it takes away from the authenticity of the film in my opinion.
Thank you. I did not see this until now.
shareI thought it seemed scripted too. Some of the scenes seemed like amateurs trying to make it look real. Especially the first segment in Thailand. I had to check to see if it was fiction based on true stories or if the film was truly a documentary. Also, there were scenes where a person would act as if there weren't any cameras there and didn't even seem surprised that they were being filmed as if the cameras and lighting were invisible.
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