A Life Interrupted (TV 2007)

After Debbie Smith was raped, she didn't take the law into her own hands. She wrote the law.

Director:

Stefan Pleszczynski

Writer:

John Wierick (teleplay)

Stars:

Lea Thompson, Anthony Lemke, Cindy Busby

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lea Thompson	...	Debbie Smith
Anthony Lemke	...	Rob Smith
Cindy Busby	...	Crystal Smith
Éléonore Lamothe	...	Young Crystal (as Eleonore Lamothe)
Devon Bostick	...	Young Bobby
Tommy Lioutas	...	Bobby Smith
Cary Lawrence	...	Emily
Ralph Prosper	...	Norman Jimmerman
Trevor Hayes	...	Mike Yost
Mélanie St-Pierre	...	Molly
Malcolm Travis	...	D.A. Mike McGinty
Saskia Rose Gaucher	...	Young Tawny
Andrew Johnston	...	Dr. Paul Ferrara
Carlo Mestroni	...	Defense Attorney
Russell Yuen	...	George Li

Storyline

Based on a true story. In 1989, Debbie Smith was living a quiet life as a housewife with her police officer husband, Rob and their two kids, but one day it's all shattered. While her husband slept upstairs, Debbie was dragged from her kitchen in broad daylight and brutally raped in the woods. After going through the dehumanizing rape-kit, she waited with fear and paranoia. Six years later, her rapist was caught through a chance DNA test. After learning how many rape-kits go untested and how long women wait to get justice, Debbie makes it her mission so no one women will suffer the long wait to get justice.

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Plot Keywords:

police officer | rapist | fear | legislature | rape | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History

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Details

Official Sites:

Lifetime TV

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 April 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Debbie Smith Story

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Incendo Smith Production

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Great job combining two story threads

A lot of Lifetime's TV movies get overly preachy when they take on social issues. Not this one. This is a superb human drama that expertly combines two story threads: the trauma that Debbie Smith faced from being raped and her involvement in the struggle to increases the resources available to local police departments to run DNA tests to identify rapists even when no suspect has actually been identified or taken into custody. This film brings us Debbie's trauma and how her rape hurts not only her but her family as well, turning her off to sex with her husband (the scene in which she freaks out in bed because he's inadvertently used an endearment that was also spoken to her by her rapist is especially chilling) and even being exploited by her children's schoolmates as an excuse to tease them. Stefan Pleszczynski directs in a calm, straightforward style that makes the material far more chilling than it would have been in the hands of an artier director; his only miscalculation (and the reason I'm not giving this film a perfect 10) is making the rape scene itself look too pleasant, going for soft-core porn titillation instead of the hard reality of violation. Still, that's a small blemish on an otherwise great production that shows off Lifetime at its best.