HOLLY K11 Salvation

The 2006 film HOLLY is a faux-documentary about a young American seeking to rescue a 12 year-old girl from the notorious brothels of Phnom Penh's K-11. The movie unfortunately the low-rent monotone plot fails to convey a sense of salvation for the two protagonists in this modern version of THE WORLD OF SUZIE WONG.

Micholas Kristoff wrote extensively about the virgin whores of Phnom Penh and rescued two from the clutches of the sex trade. One stayed with her family for about week before resuming er metier at her old brothel, while the other moved to another village to avoid the recriminations of family members and villagers.

She was a bad girl for being a whore and even worse for not having any money for her family.

In 1999 my motorcycle driver drove me to the world-infamous K-11 in Phnom Penh. I was curious, but as we neared our destination I was having second thoughts.

"This is wrong." I had a lunch date with the British Ambassador at a 5-star hotel.

"Have to see. Same as Killing Fields." He turned down a muddy rutted lane.

"I don't want to." Girls hung out in front of impromptu buildings. None of them were under 18. They called out for me to stop. The driver ignored their pleas.

"We go to my sister's bar." He was after a bone from the procurer.

He parked the crapped-out bike before a three-story brothel with a warren of rickety rooms staggering out over a stagnant irrigation ditch. Three surly guards stood at the door. The mama-san beckoned me with long lacquered fingernails.

"Not do nothing. Only look." The driver pushed me inside and I sat on on soggy sofa. The madam put a beer on a table constructed of left-over wood. she shouted in Khmer and a parade of young girls filed into the room. They were dressed in flimsy shifts and rubbed their eyes as if they had had a long night. None of them looked older than 14.

"I'm not really into this." This sin wasn't covered in the 10 commandments.

The madam sensed my trepidation and signalled for the girls to pull off their simple shifts. Pancakes had more elevation than their breasts.The guards shut the shutters, shading the room with danger and desperation. The madam motioned for two girls to start kissing each other. Their starved bodies rubbed together like two sticks trying to start a fire.

"One girl $15. Two girls $20. One hour." The madam nodded to the guards. The roughest locked the steel door. No one was coming in and no one was coming out.

"I'll have those two." I indicated the performers and was escorted to the boom-boom rooms.

I was given two condoms and the door shut on the three of us. A bolt was slid over the door. The window was two-inches wide. I wasn't going anywhere but here. The two girls were still naked. They reached over to take off my clothes. I waved them away.

"No sex."

"No sex?" They were confused and the taller girl said, "Not have sex man beat us."

"We can pretend. You know same in movie. Sex-no-sex." Like Barbie and Ken.

"No sex. No money. No money. Not eat. We smoke you okay?"

I was trapped in a room with two naked girls. They wanted to have sex with me. I couldn't oblige them and apologized for my lack of arousal. They dressed in their shifts and then moaned passionately for about 15 minutes, while slapping each other on the hands. They pointed to me and I joined the chorus. The show lasted 15 minute and I gave them both a $10 tip. They spit in the condoms and the smaller girl knocked on the door. The guards unlatched the outside lock and the madam smiled triumphantly upon seeing the used condoms. The driver clapped me on the back and the guards opened the gate. I was a free man.

"Come back soon." The mama-san wore a smile. So did the girls, the guards and driver. Everyone had money for lunch.

On the way back to the city I looked over my shoulder for a car trailing us. Under-age sex was Gary Glitter territory. The US had special police to remand offenders back to America.

"What problem?" The driver drove one-handed weaving through the elegantly slow-moving traffic.

"How old were those girls?"

"Maybe 18."

"18? They looked 12."

"Girl not have food long time. She not grow. Not have period. Not have hair. Skinny same young girl. These girls old. I sorry. You want real young girls. I get for you."

"No thanks."

I settled onto the bike thinking I might not go to hell, but who was I kidding?

I'm damned for eternity.

If only for that day.

And maybe a few others.