Yami no kodomo-tachi

Junji Sakamoto's "Yami no Kodomotachi (Children of the Dark)," based on a novel by Yan Sogil and scripted by Sakamoto himself, is a far rawer depiction of pedophilia and its victims than anything in the "Lolita" films, but not in a pornographic sense. Instead, Salkamoto shows, with a documentary-like directness, how children caught in the web of a Thai prostitution ring are exploited, abused and, in some cases, murdered when they are no longer sexually salable. Despite its thriller plot structure, the film is a serious indictment, based on actual cases.