Evan Jackson Leong’s grim feature film, Snakehead, takes us into the dark, often violent and ugly world of human trafficking. Currently available on VOD platforms, it is set mainly in New York City’s Chinatown.
The chief character is a young Chinese migrant whose credo is survival and who ruthlessly transforms herself into a smuggler. Sister Tse (Shuya Chang) has paid $57,000 to be smuggled into the United States. But to her bitter surprise, she is forced to work as a prostitute in a brothel. This is not exactly the American dream to which migrants like herself aspire.
Worse still, her daughter has gone missing. When the Coast Guard intercepted the ship she was on, her daughter was taken into custody by the federal government. Now, in desperation, Sister Tse is trying to find her.
In the meantime, she is being mistreated by a pimp. Being tough and resilient, she manages to leave prostitution, finding a menial position in a Chinese dumpling restaurant. Its owner, Dai Mah (Jade Wu), a hard-as-nails woman, takes a shine to Sister Tse and offers her friendly advice. “Everyone has to work and earn here,” she says. “There are rules here. Chinatown doesn’t change for anyone.”
Having learned that Dai Mah is involved in smuggling migrants from China to the United States, a lucrative business, Sister Tse volunteers to be a snakehead. She doesn’t want to spend the rest of her working days assembling dumplings. Alternately cool and volatile, Chang acquits herself well in Sister Tse’s role.
In due course, she travels to China, where she learns that migrants are smuggled into the U.S. via Guatemala and Mexico. En route to the American border, she and the “cargo” are spotted by a drone. Sister Tse deals harshly with a border patrol guard who tries to stop them.
Dai Mah’s ne’er-do-well son, Rambo (Sung Kang), is jealous of Sister Tse and accuses her of stealing money from him. His accusation is not baseless. In fact, she has started a smuggling business on the side. Dai Mah, played to perfection by Wu, not only overlooks this transgression, but gives her another assignment in which Rambo is involved.
It all goes sour, illustrating the callous disregard of snakeheads for the safety of their vulnerable charges. However, Sister Tse temporarily covers their tracks, fending off the police. Dai Mah is so impressed by her resourcefulness that she offers her an unusually generous reward and promises to find her daughter.
Snakehead unfolds in the dark and unsavory recesses of Chinatown, far from the glitter of fine Chinese restaurants and trinket shops frequented by tourists. It deposits viewers in a place where life can be nasty, brutish and short.