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LOST ZWEIG

TRAFFICKING AS PORTRAYED IN FILM - HISTORY

LOST ZWEIG is the story of a Jewish-Austrian writer and his descent into despair and nihilism in a lost tropical paradise (based on "Death in Paradise", by Alberto Dines).
The film includes scenes that depict, in a fictionalized manner, a Rio de Janeiro brothel where Polacas, Jewish prostitutes speaking Yiddish, are working. The implication is that these women are victims of the Zwi Migdal cartel.
The following synopsis is from http://www.braziliancinema.com/films/zweig.html:
In 1942, after years on the run from persecution in Europe, the Jewish-Austrian writer, STEFAN ZWEIG, and his wife, LOTTE, arrive in Brazil to take up an offer of asylum from the Brazilian government. Zweig is given a hero’s welcome in recognition of his earlier hymn to the glories and possibilities of his adopted country: "Brazil - Land of the Future". Exploiting his newly acquired star-status, he extracts assurances from President Vargas that a refugee state will be created in Brazil for other Jews trying to escape Nazi Germany.

He and Lotte settle into a home surrounded by lush tropical vegetation, and Zweig begins to feel that he has stumbled on a lost paradise. Enthralled by the native culture, he attends an African-Brazilian voodoo ceremony where, plunged into a trance, he foresees his own death.

As Zweig’s efforts to pressure the Brazilian government into creating his safe haven founder, his optimism evaporates. Depressed by the cynicism of government officials, he finds himself wondering whether his adopted country isn’t as corrupt and poisoned as his homeland.

Lotte, for her part, has noticed her husband's depression. When he shares his increasingly suicidal thoughts with her, she assures him that wherever he goes, she will follow. They bid farewell to their friends, telling them that they are embarking on a long journey, before swallowing cyanide capsules, and lying down to die.

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