I Am Slave

Malia is taken in a raid on her village in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan at twelve and sold to a house in Khartoum. She is worked and beaten there for years behind locked doors. At eighteen she is sent to London, to another wealthy house. Her name is changed, her passport taken, and she is told her father will be killed if she goes to the police. She is behind a closed door in the middle of the city. The film is based on the real story of Mende Nazer, who was taken from Sudan, made to work in domestic service in London for years, and later wrote a book about what happened to her. Gabriel Range's film runs eighty-two minutes and does not turn the case into a rescue story: the door is not locked, and what holds Malia is fear. Wunmi Mosaku plays Malia. A closing title says that thousands of people were working in similar conditions in Britain at the time.