Led by a star-studded cast and told with solid direction, Body Brokers successfully blends genre thrills with an important story about how an industry of vultures exploited a vulnerable class of people while in the pursuit of the American dream.
“Never let a good crisis go to waste”. This is infamous quote by former Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, and in many ways it speaks to how institutions, whether private or state, can exploit the vulnerable for personal or political gain.
Perhaps the most vulnerable are those addicted to drugs, with millions trapped in a vicious cycle of addiction, poverty, and crime, often with no way out. Amongst the ruins of this manmade pandemic are those saints who are willing to give a hand of guidance through various programs and rehab centres. Yet there are wolves who are ready to strike those who stray, feeding upon the addictions of the vulnerable until their coffers run with gold.
When in 2012 the Obama administration granted government funds and mandates to open rehab centres through the Affordable Care Act, the gold rush was officially open for those wolves to pounce, with California especially a mecca of shady addiction treatment centres.
It is here we find Utah (Jack Kilmer), a drug addict from Ohio. One day he meets a kind stranger named Woods (Michael Kenneth Williams), who shares his own stay of addiction and sobriety. An impressed Utah eagerly signs up to Woods’ rehab of choice, New West, which is run by the charismatic Vin (Frank Grillo).
Soon after, Woods shares with Utah that he is in fact a recruiter for New West. His job is to bring in a steady number of addicts for a cut of the insurance money that New West pockets in the millions. It doesn’t take long for Utah to sign up to the scheme, yet the threat of jail, relapse, and even violence constantly hovers over his conflicted head.
Jack Kilmer (son of legendary actor Val Kilmer) delivers the right amount of wet-behind-the-ears naivety and fragility to his role of an addict who deals with the consequences of quick-fix, big money sobriety. Michael Kenneth Williams bring a heavy weight to his role as an unpredictable recruiter of violent tendencies and urban cowboy style, and Frank Grillo plays both slick and intimidating as the greedy mastermind of little moral value.
For writer and director John Swab (Run with the Hunted), Body Brokers is an immensely personal story, since the Tulsa born filmmaker was also an addict who found himself snared in the rehab for dollars scheme. Swab frames his personal experience into an engaging crime drama in which addicts are sold to the highest bidder. While comparisons can suitably be made to moral-driven business stories such as Wall Street and The Big Short, the unique nature of Body Brokers sets it apart, with Swab never allowing his audience to forget that bodies are literally on the line not only to a drug pandemic, but also a group of devious hucksters.
The end of Body Blockers brings home hard hitting, sobering facts about the fatal nature of drug use. It also reminds that there are many rehab facilities that don’t cost a cent to attend and have helped millions. Body Blockers is an essential watch, made by a filmmaker who waked to walk to sobriety and survived to tell this important story.
