"The Abolitionists" Review
Garnering an estimated $32 billion a year globally, human trafficking is the world’s fastest growing criminal enterprise. With its high profit and low risk margins, it is an attractive industry for predators who prey on society’s more vulnerable population. But who are the victims? What’s being done to combat trafficking? In the film, The Abolitionists, former CIA and Homeland Security operative Tim Ballard takes viewers into the fight against child sex-trafficking using undercover footage from rescue operations around the world.
The film opens with a young girl named Luciana. She sits in silhouette talking about how she was told she would get help finding a job. After going to the “job site”, she said “they put something in the beverage, and I just started to sleep.” A title flashes on the screen: Every 30 seconds, a child is sold as a sex slave. It’s this sobering sequence that sets a tone for the film. While you may need a Kleenex nearby at moments in the movie, directors Darrin Fletcher and Chet Thomas strike a balance between sobering truth and uplifting hope!
We’re then introduced to Timothy Ballard, the founder and CEO of Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.), as he explains how he started his company. After saving a little boy who had been trafficked back and forth to Mexico, he realized that he wanted to keep saving children for the rest of his life. Ballard is the real deal. He explains how he had to watch pornography of the boy in order to find clues for the case. So his union with the boy was a monumental moment in his life, and his decision to continue to subject himself to atrocities like that didn’t come lightly.
From there, we hit the ground in foreign countries, meeting some of Ballard’s team along the way. One member calls himself Batman. Batman goes into places and does things that the government can’t, infiltrating himself with traffickers. Batman had a literal come to Jesus moment after 15 years of laundering money for drug cartels all over Latin America. He realized that he was a part of the problem, and wanted to be a part of the solution. Turning his life around, he’s been fighting trafficking ever since.
The O.U.R. team takes us on a journey through a few of their harrowing missions during the film as they unfold. These undercover operations will have you run the gamut of emotions while holding your breath due to the stakes. The weight of saving the innocent lives that are on the line is felt by all involved. It’s guaranteed to have you on the edge of your seat!
Rated PG-13, I think it’s worth noting that while the documentary crime drama is based on a tough subject, Fletcher and Thomas don’t show us anything that is graphically disturbing. Victims are kept in silhouette or their faces are blurred out. Even when Ballard talks about the issues, it’s handled with care. His Christian values are displayed throughout the film. The team prays at points before difficult events, and yet the universal message about the danger and reality of this rapidly growing industry shines through.
The film is somewhat heavy handed at times with its epic, sweeping orchestral score and occasional dramatic narration from Ballard. The music surges periodically, almost forcing you to look at its characters as heroes. But the thing is, they are! The men and women involved should definitely be commended and viewed as heroes, making it easy to excuse the cinematic manipulation!
The Abolitionists manages to package the hard and sad facts about child sex-trafficking into a spoon full of sugar that's easier to swallow in the form of a ride along. You quickly invest in the film’s “characters” and stakes. It’s a film that will stick with you after the credits roll and make you want to join the fight for freedom. In a situation that can be hopeless for its victims, its great to see that there are people willing to take a stand, risk their lives, and liberate these children! While a cure-all dose of medicine for this sick practice may not be on the horizon, this dose of medicine certainly gives hope!
Rating: A
**The Abolitionists is playing nationwide May 16, 2016 through Fathom Events. Click here for more info: http://www.fathomevents.com/event/the-abolitionist
Get involved: http://theabolitionistsmovie.com
"Noble" Review
There are plenty of unsung heroes who deserve to have their story receive the big screen treatment. The story of Christina Noble’s journey from poverty to helping hundreds of thousands of children in Vietnam and Mongolia is one of those stories. It’s invigorating to see a life’s course worth telling that can inspire the average person to take action no matter what’s happened in their past.
Too many biopics have a cookie cut formula that sensationalizes rather than presents a universal story. Writer/director Stephen Bradley skillfully jumps through time showing the young and present day (1989) Christina Noble (Deirdre O’Kane), weaving the two together in a way that allows the audience to draw parallels that resonate at a core level. In truth, perhaps Christina’s backstory is as compelling as her present day work in the film. She shares a similar upbringing as the children she is trying to help.
Christina loses her mother at a young age, and her unreliable father, Thomas (Liam Cunningham), crumbles even more under the loss. This forces her to comb trash cans for food and sing on street corners for change in order to help provide for her siblings. Before she reaches adulthood, she becomes pregnant from a violent rape which results in her being housed in a convent. After her son’s birth, she is separated from him after the nuns give him up for adoption. Christina then flees to Ireland to live with her best friend Joan (Ruth Negga), and eventually marries Mario (David Mumeni) who turns out to be abusive.
When Christina visits Vietnam in 1989 and sees “street kids” doing the same thing she used to do, she tries to help them. When she spots tourist David Somers (Mark Huberman) trying to intoxicate and sexually abuse a ten year old Vietnamese girl, she springs into action. These incidents relate so closely to Christina's past, and yet as an adult she can make some things right for the innocent lives who can't protect themselves. Ultimately, she sets out on a mission to bring housing, education, and medicine to the youth of Vietnam.
Christina is comfortable in her skin, and it’s thick, built off of her life’s circumstances. She talks to God in a way that is rarely seen, with blunt honesty and openness. It’s a refreshing look at an average person who refuses to succumb to life’s challenges, but uses it as fuel to give others a chance at a better life.
Deirdre O’Kane brings grace and strength to the role. Her performance makes you want to Google the real life Christina Noble! The supporting cast all turn in great performances that elevate the words on the page into something real.
While the film gets off to a slow start, the set up makes for a triumphant ending. Perhaps more importantly, it makes you think about your own life, and how you’ve used it. It’s a great reminder, that you can start with something small and turn it into something bigger than you ever imagined! "Noble" hits select theaters May 8th.
Rating: B