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Storyline
In 2002, the single mother Michelle Knight is walking to the court for the custody case of her five year-old son Joey, of whom she had lost custody. She realizes that she is late and accepts the ride from her acquaintance Ariel Castro, who is the father of a schoolmate. He lures Michelle telling that his dog delivered several puppies and he would like to give one to her for Joey. Once inside his house, he imprisons her with chains in a dark room. For eleven years, Michelle is beaten and submitted to sexual abuse and abortion. In 2003 and 2004, Ariel also kidnaps and abuses Amanda Berry, who has a child with him, and Gina DeJesus. In 2013, Amanda succeeds in escaping from the house and the police arrive and release the women.
Written by
Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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Trivia
Charles Ramsey became an internet sensation because of an interview he gave following the girls' rescue. A portion of his interview was even remixed into a song titled "Dead Giveaway."
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Goofs
At the start of the movie, the main character is clearly longsighted, as her spectacles have strong convex lenses fitted. The bad guy breaks these glasses early on and soon after she is rescued she is presented with a replacement pair, which she says bring the world back in focus for her at last. But the lenses are obviously just clear glass from then until the end of the film.
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The Cleveland abductions ? You remember that don't you ? No ? Let me refresh your memory . , A couple of years ago police in Cleveland Ohio raided a house belonging to one Ariel Castro who as it turned out kept three young women as captives . One of whom Michelle Knight had been held prisoner for eleven years . You remember it now and it'd be impossible to forget this true life horror story and this TVM tells of Michelle's ordeal
Now to be fair having the story told through a television film via the Lifetime Channel is both a blessing and a curse . A blessing that we're not going to be subjected to extreme exploitation that's going to keep us awake for nights on end due to the disturbing subject material but at the same time a curse that the restrain of a TVM really doesn't do the story justice . In this medium it's a rather uneasy mix but doesn't stop an opening caption that "Contains distressing scenes . Viewer discretion advised" . The constant rapes and beatings of Michelle are thankfully left mainly to the imagination but at the same time you're left thinking that this isn't due to any cerebral reason except that you're not allowed to show that type of stuff on the channel . In other words the story is shaped by outside criteria that have got absolutely nothing to do with the story and everything to do with outside factors . Another irritant is that you never get to feel much in the way of Michelle's hopes of ever being rescued being dashed time and again which I'm sure must have constantly happened . None of this is helped by the feeling of time passing being conspicuous by its absence and much of this TVM feels like it has taken place in 90 minutes rather than the eleven years of Michelle's real time imprisonment . There's not enough foundations for the audience to emotionally invest enough in to Michelle's ordeal which is terrible but at the same time abstract which means despite the compelling subject matter the characters remain entirely distant