Dirty Pretty Things /

Dirty Pretty Things is a 2002 film directed by Stephen Frears and written by Steven Knight, a drama about two illegal immigrants in London. It was produced by the Celador Films production company. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and won a British Independent Film Award for "Best Independent British Film" in 2003. Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a Nigerian man who drives a cab in London during the day and works at the front desk of a hotel at night — chewing khat (a stimulant) to keep awake. Okwe was formerly a doctor in Nigeria. In London he is pressed into giving medical treatment to other poor immigrants — including fellow cab drivers with venereal diseases. Okwe's friend Guo Yi (Benedict Wong), an employee at a hospital mortuary, provides him with antibiotics under the table. A prostitute known as Juliette (Sophie Okonedo) tells Okwe to check a room in which she was staying and he finds the toilet overflowing. While fishing out the blockage, he finds a human heart. The manager of the hotel, Juan (Sergi López), runs an illegal operation at the hotel where immigrants swap kidneys for forged passports.