Operation Underground Railroad is
Rescuing Children from Sex Trafficking
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Filming at San Pedro Cathedral |
Imagine being right there with the "Jump Team" when they rescue the guarded children who are being used as pawns in a sick game of sex.
Imagine seeing the startled faces of the depraved men as they are being arrested for prostituting them. Or perhaps you'd like to go undercover and play the "bad guy" who is buying the innocents?
It may not be possible for you to do any of these things but a film
crew is following the people who do it all and is turning it into a documentary
called The Abolitionists. Once completed, you will have a front row seat
to all these experiences “up close and personal.”
FletChet Entertainment owners Darrin Fletcher and Chet Thomas are
working with Operation Underground Railroad documenting Tim Ballard’s every
move as he finds the children, works with officials, and has the bad guys
arrested.
“Our goal was to make it as cinematic as possible. We wanted this to
feel like you are part of the team. You’re literally going to see the guns.
It’s gritty and it’s real and sad and heroic,” said Fletch.
Safety is always a concern for the Jump Team as well as the camera
crew. “It doesn’t feel dangerous when you’re out there but when you’re
back it looks a lot more dangerous,” observed Fletch.
That security dictates what the film crew can and can not do. They use
about 20 small go-pro type cameras that are attached to guns, helmets, hats,
and hidden in rooms. It’s not infrequent to go to places where they get
patted down so they also use Pocket Cinema Cameras that work well in low light
and blend in, making the film crew look more like tourists than
documentarians. So far they’ve used the cameras in Colombia, Haiti,
Nicaragua, Peru, Ecuador, Dominican Republic and California with great success.
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Film Crew in Nicaragua |
The “star” of the show is Tim Ballard, owner and founder of Operation
Underground Railroad. It’s pretty much his journey of saving kids. Fletch says
he is the perfect host and could make it in Hollywood if he wanted to.
Fortunately for all, he’d rather be helping children.
According to Fletch, if there were a second star of the film it would
be “batman.” No. Not that batman. It’s a code name for a very unassuming
man who helps O.U.R. find traffickers. Fletch describes him as one who is very
comfortable everywhere he goes.
I don’t
know how he does it. He goes into these places and I can’t look. I look at the
ground. Then I think I have to start looking because I’m drawing attention to
myself. I look up and he’s right at home. Just at ease working undercover
arranging buying little girls.
There are
moments of the film that will haunt you for weeks. Batman tells a story that
is so disturbing that I cut my camera. Chet cut his camera, but fortunately one
camera was still rolling. It is in the film but we haven’t even talked about
it. It will be what reporters will talk about when they review the film.
It’s the
most difficult thing to watch in the film and you don’t see anything. It’s just
this guy on a balcony smoking a cigar, talking. You don’t see any graphic
images. It’s all very clean, except for your mind’s eye in this one moment. I
fought very hard for this to be in the film. It’s a cancer.
Batman, however, does a lot more than arrange for the buying of little
girls. He also helps with their rehabilitation both spiritually and physically.
He’ll tell you that, “…if Jesus is not in the home there is no
rehabilitation. That’s a line from the film,” said Fletch.
In Cartagena the film crew stumbles upon a beautiful cathedral and
sends in Chet with his “silver tong” to find out what it’s all about and see if
they can film inside. He comes back with a 93-year-old priest who gives
them a tour of San Pedro Cathedral.
Inside is a glass coffin of San Pedro. It is the perfect backdrop for
filming the meeting between the priest and Tim Ballard. The priest says
Cartagena was the corner pin for bringing slaves to America and that San Pedro
would see the slaves arrive and go and smile at them so they would at least see
one friendly face. “It’s a great story. There are really great stories
about heroes who, in their own right, should be abolitionists,” said Fletch.
The irony of the former slaves and today’s trafficked children is not lost on
the crew.
To ensure the quality of the film Chet and Fletch enlisted Academy Award
winner Jerry Molen as Executive Director, someone Chet’s worked with for many
years. Molen may be best known for working with Stephen Spielberg on
Shindler’s List, Jurassic Park and The Minority Report.
Fletch says that although Jerry comes from an executive level, he is
very much involved in the making of the film. “Once we have a cut that we’re
happy with Jerry will watch it and give us some notes and we implement those.
He’s also very well connected so his name still calls down a lot of power.”
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Academy Award Winner - Jerry Molen |
And they’re all hoping that power and quality of work will win the
film some attention and notoriety, not for them so much as to shine a light on
the issue of child trafficking which will hopefully create more awareness and
fund more rescues.
To accomplish that feat FletChet Entertainment plans
to submit The Abolitionists documentary to as many film festivals as
they can, including the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, The Cannes Film Festival in France, and
festivals all over the world. It will eventually be released in movie theaters
probably early next year. The date isn’t set yet.
In making the film Fletch has discovered a disturbing truth. “I’ve
learned people will do anything for money and there are good people and bad
people everywhere. In our film we make a very strong attempt to ensure that the
countries we’re in don’t look bad. We make very sure that there’s also a good
story in the places where we are.”
Yes, happy endings are best, especially when it’s about saving an
enslaved child.
For more information on Operation Underground Railroad and the children they rescue please visit OURRESCUE.org
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