The Retrieval

Synopsis: 1864: as war ravages the nation, on the outskirts of the Civil War business as usual continues for slave-owners and traders. THE RETRIEVAL follows Will, a fatherless 13 year-old boy, who survives by working with a white bounty hunter gang who sends him to earn the trust of runaway slaves and wanted freedmen in order to lure them back to the South. On a dangerous mission into the free North to find Nate, a fugitive freedman, things go wrong, and Will and Nate find themselves alone and on the run. As the bond between them unexpectedly grows, Will becomes consumed by conflicting emotions as he faces a gut-wrenching final decision: to betray the father figure he's finally found, or risk being killed by his gang. Thrilling, but grounded in historical research, THE RETRIEVAL serves as an insight into the little-told story of the grey area between slavery and emancipation, and the horrific moral dilemma that comes with being forced to betray your fellow man.     Source: Variance