During the height of the Civil War a young African American boy and his uncle make their living as bounty hunters helping a deranged group of rebels capture runaway slaves. They are tasked with traveling into the northern territories and bring back a single man for a massive bounty. The moral implications for the young boy are extreme.
Chris Eska makes the most of his low budget with a great eye for location. This is essentially a road movie through the woods. Eska shoots the woods with a deep gloom. Everything has a decaying feel to it which amplifies the moral issues caused by the Civil War and slavery. We get the feeling of the difficulty of this journey. The physical struggle as our protagonists trudge through the swamp, the cold and hunger as everyone munches on small bits of meat and hard tack all add to paint a depressing picture of life in the west.
The greatest strength of this film is it’s acting. Ashton Sanders is a fantastic child actor. He spends much of the movie simply reacting. His brow creased in deep thought as he slips further and further into a choice between good and evil. This young actor has the chops to carry the film in close up, a feat few child actors are capable of. Tishaun Scott as Nate, the wanted man, has a gravitas and dignity that makes his character compelling. He plays the classic “good man” role and does it well. We are never distrustful or fearful of his presence, we just want to learn more about him and as the layers are pealed back and our understanding grows he becomes even more fascinating. Bill Oberst Jr. plays the maniacal Burrell the white leader of the bounty hunters. His stillness and self righteousness is disturbing. Oberst has such a captivating voice that he steals every scene he’s in. Interesting side note, Bill Oberst Jr. was on the other side of this conflict when he played Abraham Lincoln in “Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies” which was widely acclaimed as having the most nuanced and realistic portrayal of Lincoln ever. The only actor I took issue with was Keston John who plays Marcus the abusive uncle. John just seems to modern. His portrayal would be right at home on “The Wire”, here it feels out of place.
“The Retrieval” reminds me a lot of “The Grey Zone” a movie about Jewish prisoners helping the Nazis exterminate other Jews in exchange for their lives. Both movies are focused on impossible problems forced upon their protagonists because of unjust historical times. These films ask us how important are our morals? Our self respect? Neither gives an easy answer. There isn’t one. “The Retrieval” lets us know that making this decision is part of life. We just have to be strong enough to choose correctly.
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