The Retrieval

I know that I am about to state the obvious here but I really do love movies; so much so that it negatively affects my social life. I'm not simply talking about the fact that it takes me away from doing other things that involve actual human interaction, I'm focused more on the fact that after seeing 3 straight depressing movies in a row while also watching The Wire, I'm about ready to play real life Frogger in the middle of the I-35 highway! So what do I do to deal with it? Naturally I go see a movie about the Civil War that involves black people getting punked.

In the latest story about our country's darkest time, we are introduced to a young boy named Will and his uncle Marcus. They have effectively become freed slaves since the day their plantation and its owner were overtaken by the Northern troops. Will's parents are gone so he is being raised and taken care of by his 'survive by any means necessary' uncle. So in order to survive they work with bounty hunters to track down runaway slaves and wanted men for money. Their leader is a white man named Burrell; he isn't necessarily an outright evil man but he will take out anyone or anything that will get in the way of him collecting his bounty money. One day he sends Will and Marcus on a mission to track down this dangerous and mysterious man named Nate. The reasons for the retrieval of this man are murky at best but the reward is a rather hefty one and Burrell considers this such a priority that he threatens to hunt down and kill both Will and Marcus if they don't return with Nate in tow.

So they use the excuse of Nate's brother's failing health to lure him back with them. He reluctantly agrees and the rest of the movie focuses on their journey back to Nate's original home where the bounty hunters await. Along the way we learn more and more about this mysterious man as well as the imperfect relationship that exists between Will and Marcus.

This movie is a character study, mainly focusing on Will and his internal conflict of what kind of man he wants to become. From the opening scene where you see him using his age and his look of innocence to gain the trust of people just so he can use that to his advantage to bring in runaway slaves, you see is reluctance and instant regret. But all he knows is what his uncle is teaching him, so he naturally believes that this is the only way to survive. And things only get more complicated once he meets Nate and they encounter the challenges you would normally expect to see in the middle of a Civil War.

This movie is gut wrenching at times as you keep wanting Will to separate from his uncle and do the right thing, but that's his only remaining family in a world where all he knows is death and destruction. I loved this movie because it actually gives you a side of the war that hasn't been beaten to death over the years and you honestly have no idea how it's going to end until the film's final shot.

There is one funny thing of note and that's the fact that Will's uncle Marcus looks just like Chappelle in his Behind the Scenes of Roots sketch. They could've thrown me a bone and played some Rick James during the final credits, but I guess that's reason number 450 of why I am not allowed to make movies.

I rate this movie as FRESH but I suggest that you see it when you're in a really good mood.