Peter Pluymers 1864. The civil war between North and South is intense and nearing its end. Will (Ashton Sanders) and Marcus (Keston John) try to earn some money during their miserable existence as a slave and serve as bait for the bounty hunter Burell (Bill Oberst Jr.). By using their directions, Burell captures escaped slaves and they receive a small portion of the premium. Strange but true. I didn't know oppressed slaves were misused like this. Their survival instinct drives them to do such insidious practices and thus betray their own fellow-sufferers. They seek the company of those white bounty hunters, so they are safe for other white men. A contradictory situation. On the one hand there's this sense of security. But then they are still under the rule of ruthless bounty hunters, who have no human feeling whatsoever for black people who they see as inferior.Will's life basically revolves solely around treason. Treachery towards his own people and treachery also towards himself. Deep down he feels resentment and remorse about the fact that he's forced to chase poor women and children into the hands of these bounty hunters. The ultimate task Burell asks them to do, is a search for the runaway slave Nate (Tishuan Scott) who buries fallen soldiers in the north. The reward probably will be sufficient enough to buy back their freedom. They just need to convince Nate to return with them. To accomplish that they use the excuse of a dying brother who wants to see Nate one more time.The feeling of guilt that's bothering Will, grows even stronger because of the bond of trust that grows in between him and Nate. The lack of a father figure in his young life begins to weigh and Will starts to look up at Nate. When both of them save each other's lives during the trip, Will's resistance against the original plan begins to rise. He's forced to take a well-defined hard decision."The Retrieval" is, just like the movie "Django Unchained", an attempt to show the life of an African-American from a completely different angle. Django was a free Afro-American. An individual who had the same rights as his white oppressor. In the eyes of these white masters this was unacceptable and hard to accept. Here, African Americans are forced to commit terrible acts. And they committed these acts merely to safeguard their own lives in these tragic and disgraceful times. Unfortunately, there is an oversupply of genres in this film. It's a war movie (with brief excerpts from the battlefield), a drama about slavery, a kind of road movie and finally a coming of age story. All these genres together make that the movie can go in any direction.The interaction between Will and Nate is the most interesting portion of the film. A masterly combination of poignant conversations. Maybe this unvarnished version without stunning backgrounds and colorful images shows a more realistic view than the bigger Hollywood productions. The barren winter landscape with its gray, pale colors underline the human sorrow and melancholy tone of the story. Perhaps the pace is a bit too slow, but this is compensated by the dynamic between the taciturn old slave and the with doubts haunted young boy. Perhaps "The Retrieval" is technically inferior compared to "12 Years a Slave", but content wise it's maybe stronger.More reviews here : http://bit.ly/1KIdQMT

niutta-enrico It's a good film whose screenplay probably deserves a 9. While watching, however, I had the impression of a TV movie: unknown actors, poor locations, a non-original story… movie's magic, in other words, didn't work for me.Dialogues are really good and acting is utterly convincing: Bill Oberst Jr in particular plays a perfect bad guy. But I never really believed the story or truly cared for characters' fate.I read that Chris Eska both wrote and directed the movie (and even did the editing) and I can imagine how hard he worked on this production. Thus I feel quite guilty while writing these lines. Fortunately enough, my opinion is less than worthless and the chances that someone will read me lines (or agree with me) are less than for a camel (or a rope) to go through an average needle's eye

xemiya I was initially hesitant to see this movie at first because I mistakenly figured this would be just another movie with the main focus on just the horrors of slavery , but I am glad I did. It does depict some of the aspects of slavery in America, but it also focuses on another aspect that was never or seldom covered in other movies. The interactions between the main characters; especially between Nate and Will, and their journey are what really make this film. It does have a couple of weaknesses in the story, but overall it is worth seeing.After the movie, we were treated to a Q & A session with Mr. Tishuan Scott, who plays Nate in the movie, which added more to understanding some of the background in the making of the movie.

Mack Duncan This has to be the most beautiful movie I've seen in a long time. It's pitch perfect in almost every way.I saw this film at the 13th Phoenix Film Festival, where it received much deserved awards for directing and the ensemble acting, as well as being voted the audience favorite.D'JANGO UNCHAINED was about slavery, its brutality, the violence, the humiliation, and the nightmare. THE RETRIEVAL addresses slavery and allows it to be a thread to its story by neither shying away from it nor allowing it to overwhelm the narrative. It's about the bond between two characters and the sacrifices they make.Every character is rich and real. There's humor, tragedy, a riveting story and beautiful cinematography. This film deserves to be seen, and everyone connected to it deserves an opportunity to continue their work.