Review of The Abolitionists (2016) by Brayden G — 26 May 2016

The BYU graduate and former Government Agent, Tim Ballard, is every mistreated child's real-life hero. While working on an assignment from the Government, Agent Tim Ballard was given the task of forming a child crime unit to help children that were being sexually exploited or abused. Initially, Ballard refused but after closing his first case which led to the saving of a 5yr old boy, who had been through the worst of things, Ballard knew that this was something he had to do. Later on after leaving the government agency in pursuit of starting his own movement to end child slavery, Ballard brought together and founded the group O.U.R. (Operation Underground Railroad) where some of the country's most highly trained individuals came together to form an elite team of Abolitionists.

The documentary is composed of several of the team's missions, that they filmed as they were in the process of bringing down these traffickers. The film shows you the heartbreaking footage of the conditions in which some children live, it pulls at your heart-strings to hear some of the things the traffickers say in order to sell their product (a human child). Not only are the success' celebrated in this documentary but you are able to feel the pain of one of the missions that goes unaccomplished, in a last minute turn of events and abandonment of the government's support you feel the team's sorrow as they know those sex traffickers will continue to roam the streets and those children will have to go through more pain and exploitation. We need to see films like this so we become more aware of the issue.

In the documentary you are able to see how the group not only saves these children but then assists and oversees the rehabilitation of them. O.U.R. researches and finds appropriate care/rehabilitation centers for each of the children that they save from being trafficked. As part of the film you go with the team back to several of the places they performed successful operations and you meet some of the children that the team had saved. Through interviews and conversations you learn more about the emotional and/or physical damage that is done to each of these kids and you feel for them as they are going through the process of recovery, yet your heart is warmed at the progress each one is making and subsequently torn when a child is still severely struggling with what has happened to them.

The movie is something that scares people, that makes them uncomfortable because it's something people don't want to think about or acknowledge is happening around them. The truth of it is gross and terrifying, but Tim Ballard is on a mission to raise awareness and bring home these innocent children who have been so severely wronged, over and over again. After hearing the truth we are never the same, and that's what this movie does for you. You leave with a greater understanding of how real the problem is but with the hope that you, as an individual, can make a difference. Thanks to "The Abolitionists" we come one step closer to saving another child.