'The Whistleblower' gets its steam from real-life events

R (disturbing violent content including a sexual assault, graphic nudity, strong language); 112 min.

The difficult thing about true stories is that they're not neat and tidy. In the opening minutes of The Whistleblower, we meet a police officer (Rachel Weisz) whose huge problem is that she lives far from her daughter and can't seem to get a transfer. But then, the movie pivots, and in a way too obvious to land with any emotional force, this Nebraska cop sublimates her maternal longings into an investigation of sex-trafficking rings in Bosnia.

This all feels pulled in two directions, forced into a pattern and just not quite right, and so The Whistleblower -- the true story of Kathryn Bolkovac, who in 1999 joined a private security company doing "peacekeeping" in Bosnia -- is clumsy and ineffective in its first half hour. But gradually, as her investigation deepens and we see the true hideousness of what she is uncovering, the movie achieves urgency and purpose.

The feature-film debut of director Larysa Kondracki, the film is designed to make you think and to make you outraged, and it will do both. Seemingly within days of arriving in Bosnia, Bolkovac discovers women who have been raped and abused. But none of her colleagues or superiors is interested in even investigating these crimes. Methodically, just by doing her work as a cop, she starts pulling on the line and soon finds that the fish she is pursuing is getting bigger and bigger -- and scarier.

If it were merely a drama, The Whistleblower would be so-so. But the good thing about true stories is that knowing they're true makes them better.

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-- Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle