Chattel

STORY- CAMEROON The story begins in Cameroon where we hear the SWEET V.O of a beautiful young girl called MARIATU NGOZI, she informs us that 20% of all HUMAN TRAFFICKING occurs right here in AFRICA. Years after her mother goes missing, Mariatu, now 17, is taken as payment by ruthless gangster/human trafficker- BOSCO, when her father fails to pay his debts. After Bosco murders Mariatu’s father, he takes the twins, who share a TELEPATHIC connection, as payment, SAUL is forced to work for Bosco’s criminal organisation, while Mariatu is trafficked across NIGERIA-MOROCCO into EUROPE. NIGERIA As Mariatu and the other captives begin their arduous journey across the continent, Bosco’s men are double crossed by an NPF (Nigerian Police Force) officer, who decides to sell the girls off as SERFS and keep the spoils. At the labour prison camp run by the villainous ZAZA and his MEDICINE MAN - KOGAMATO, Mariatu forms strong bonds with the other prisoners; she also hears that her mother has been in that very camp through one of the women who recognises her from a small photo Mariatu is carrying. Within the prison camp sits an isolated, foreboding building the prisoners refer to as - THE DEATH CABIN. It is used by their captors to dismember redundant slaves and sell their body parts on the BLACK MARKET: another horrific rising/lucrative business in Africa and other parts of the world. After Mariatu and her close knit group plot a successful escape, she finds her mother locked up along with many other prisoners in the DEATH CABIN, they are then pursued by Zaza and his men. Fleeing the prison camp they manage to fend off attacks from Zaza’s gang, only to fall back into the clutches of BOSCO. Mariatu and the girls are eventually trafficked into Europe. LONDON In London, Mariatu finds herself prisoner once again, now under the control of a Russian crime boss, SACHA. She is an extremely BEAUTIFUL girl, gathering a cult following as a dancer at one of his clubs. Mariatu charms everyone who lays eyes on her, including Sacha’s young righthand man - LUKA. Mariatu seduces Luka, plotting a way out. All she yearns for is to be free and back with her family. When Sacha realises her plan he rapes her, thinking it will break her spirit. Luka turns against Sacha after finding out what he has done. When Mariatu and Luka attempt their escape Sacha tracks them down, killing Luka in the battle that ensues. One night an altercation at the strip club ends in a young man’s death. Finding out the young man who Sacha killed is the son of feared gangster - AVI GOLDMAN, Mariatu double crosses Sacha and sends a video to Avi which shows Sacha shooting dead his son Levi. In a gangster style hit, Avi and his men pull up on Sacha’s vehicle while he is parked at a set of lights, his car is sprayed with bullets. When the smoke clears Sasha is slumped over the wheel, dead. Avi sets Mariatu free, she returns to Africa determined to free her brother and others about to suffer the same fate she did. CAMEROON Mariatu tracks down her brother Saul, they seek the help of the local GOVERNOR, whose young daughter Mariatu saved at the prison camp in Nigeria. Along with the Governor’s guard and led by the FORMIDABLE CAPTAIN KONE they ambush Bosco at a warehouse where another HUMAN AUCTION is taking place. Bosco’s corrupt police officers shoot Kone, and Bosco manages to escape. Mariatu follows Bosco, a car chase ensues, they track him to his MIMBO HOUSE (bar) where he stops to grab a GO BAG. Against all odds they manage to capture him there. Mariatu finds a group of kidnapped women and children in the very same shack she was caged in at the beginning of her journey. After freeing them, the enraged women beat Bosco and dump him in the pool of crocodiles he used to get rid of his less fortunate victims. Back at the warehouse, Kone (who survived the shooting) and his men arrest the traffickers, including the dirty cops. The twins reunite with their mother Tenne at the airport and the family is back together at last. Mariatu’s appealing voice (V.O) is heard one last time - She informs us that she survived when many did not because she decided to fight back. She promises to carry on fighting in the name of her friends who fell along the way and to prevent others having to face the same fate.