DN:FILM Ghost Fleet
GHOST FLEET follows the efforts of Patima Tungpuchayakul and her team of fellow activists as they search islands in Indonesia, hoping to find migrant workers who are the enslaved victims of horrendous forced-labor conditions. She’s looking for escapees, men who, in some cases, have spent years at sea without seeing land, working against their will. She offers them both a means to return home and to pursue justice for their abductions and subsequent treatment. The film that documents her efforts evolved from an initial investigation, by Shannon Service and Jeffrey Waldron, into the practice of forced labor on Thai fishing boats. That work first became an NPR piece, and Service and Waldron felt compelled to share what they uncovered—the dismaying specifics as well as the broader question of why forced labor still exists, as well as the longterm, far-reaching impacts of these practices—with a wider audience.
Those specifics: The stories many of the rescued men tell are similarly tragic. Many were approached with a promise for work, a dream opportunity to better their lives and those of their loved ones, albeit one that would mean they had to leave their homes. The prospects were enticing enough to make the sacrifice seem worthwhile. Inevitably, though, the realization that something was amiss came next—when they’d been shoved into a crowded holding cell; or, after being drugged, awoke on a rocking boat miles out at sea. The work dream had evaporated, in its place the slavery nightmare of having been sold to fishing-boat captains. Service and Waldron explain that because Thailand is one of the largest providers of the world’s fish—the country provides much of the mackerel, sardines and anchovies that Americans eat—the pressure to keep up with demand has made local crews unwilling to take on the work. That meant conditions were ripe for forced labor; in stepped human traffickers, supported by lax labor laws.
Ghost Fleet follows several threads of this complicated tapestry of a story. Service and Waldron place the primary focus on Patima’s work, which has been instrumental in the rescue of thousands. One of her primary partners, Tun Lin, was once enslaved and now finds healing by helping to save others. The rescue and redemption aspects of the doc—which is gorgeous to look at, a near-guilty pleasure in the context of its harrowing subject—provides some welcome relief. Accompanying the chilling testimony of ongoing trafficking, after all, is the haunting recognition that the delicious anchovy pizza and Ceasar salad you’re about to enjoy might not be there without the labor of a slave.
Read our DN:Interview with Patima here: