Buoyancy  ★★★½

AN estimated 200,000 men and boys are forced to work on modern-day slave boats throughout Asia.

The new Australian film Buoyancy explores this shocking practice with unflinching commitment  and poignancy, anchored by extraordinary performances from a novice cast.

It tells the true story of a 14-year-old Cambodian boy who seeks independence and adventure but finds himself enslaved and fighting for survival.

Chakra is from a subsistence farming family, living with his parents and nine siblings. Forced to work in the fields everyday, his only respite from the mundanity of life is the occasional swim or neighborhood football game.

He is like hundreds of thousands of others in the same position, but Chakra has a determined nature that convinces him to leave home in the dead of night and seek better-paid work at a factory in the city.

But there’s a catch. To get this type of job you need to stump up $500 for the go-between. If you don’t have the money, you can borrow it and arrange to have it taken from your wages.

For Chakra that is the only option, but there is worse to come with the ‘factory’ being on-board a Thai fishing vessel commanded by thugs who force them to work and live in shocking conditions under threat of beatings or death.

Young Sarm Heng gives a wonderfully moving performance as Chakra. Being a novice actor you assume he was given strong direction to emote with his face rather than the minamilist script and he achieves this incredibly well.

Also terrific is Thanawut Kasro as the captain of the vessel who uses psychological as well as physical torture to control his crew and, when required, puit them against each other.

The film is the first feature for writer/director Rodd Rathjen from Victoria who previously made a couple of highly-regarded short films.

With Buoyancy, Rathjen manages to successfully build a ‘call to action’ against modern slavery within a taut and exciting thriller. It’s a very strong debut all round.