Mariska Graveland, 27-03-2014
It sounds noble: giving former prostitutes from Nigeria a second chance by training them to become a car mechanic. Sexy Money reveals the disturbing reality behind the Lady Mechanic Initiative. You can't trust anyone, is the thought that arises after seeing Sexy Money. The revealing documentary shows how a number of former prostitutes from Nigeria try to build a better life for themselves against all odds, but the setbacks are huge. First of all, there are the crooks who lure them to Europe under false pretenses, from which they eventually returned 70,000 euros poorer - the money they had to hand in as prostitutes - after enduring countless humiliations from their clients.

Then there is their 'rescuer' Sandra Aguebor, initiator of the Lady Mechanic Initiative project, a garage where these women get a second chance as an apprentice car mechanic. At first glance, this woman seems like an idealist — she shouts loudly that she wants to give women back their power — but after a while it turns out that she does not always pay her students the promised wages and the money from her sponsors, including the Dutch Eureko Achmea Foundation, used for personal gain.

And then there's the Imo College of Advanced Professional Studies, which promises one of the women a leadership position; she would be the first female car mechanic to “write history” and symbolize “the rise of Africa”, she is praised. They end up shockingly leading her on. These women must become independent of the money of unreliable men (“men are cheaters,” Aguebor constantly tells them), but the alternatives are just as bad. Karin Junger (Birthplace Unknown, Bolletjes Blues), who went into the slums of Lagos on her own, spiced up her excellent documentary with afrobeat by the popular Nigerian singer-songwriter Nneka, who wrote a few songs especially for the film and shows the fighting spirit of this women underlined.