The Market

“We are naked down to our souls, and the whole world can see our nakedness.” These words are spoken by Prabha, an impoverished Indian woman who is a broker on the international kidney market. In a place where people sell fish, vegetables, and flowers, many now sell parts of themselves. Desperately poor and in debt, they offer their kidneys to Westerners who are equally desperate for life-saving transplants. THE MARKET is a gripping story that follows women on both sides of this medical-cultural divide. Prabha is a tough businesswoman who has sold her own kidney and reluctantly takes on the case of her sister Hema. She barters on cell phones and in darkened hospital corridors for the best price. Meanwhile in Canada, Sandra performs dialysis at home four times a day. Her condition will deteriorate soon without a transplant. Long waits for transplants in the West often prove deadly. Despite the urging of her mother and daughter to seek a donor in India, Sandra has serious moral qualms. Together with filmmaker Rama Rau, the three women travel to Chennai to meet face-to-face with those whose lives they have the power to change. (In English and Tamil with subtitles) – B.B.