Sunday, September 27, 2015
"Captive": true story of an addicted single mom taken hostage by an escaped prisoner, borrows on Rick Warren's bestseller
“Captive”, directed by Jerry Jameson, purports to be a true
story, based on the book “Unlikely Angel” by Ashley Smith (Kate Mara) of her
being held hostage in her own apartment by escaped prisoner Brian Nichols (David
Olewoyo), in March 2005 in Atlanta. Nichols overpowered a female guard (after
assistants called in sick), shot and killed a judge, an FBI agent, and two
others in his escape.
Smith is presented as a meth addict, with barely enough
incentive to recover, so she can get reunited with her daughter and eventually
regain custody (as a single mom). So
this is a story scenario that indeed sounds like Screenwriting 101, with the
most desperate people possible. But it’s
being based on truth turns the tables. And a major plot feature us how a friend has
given her an unwelcome “free copy” of Pastor Rick Warren’s best-selling book “The
Purpose-Driven Life” (2002), and how her reading to Nichols from the book calms
him down and persuades him to let her go, leading to his recapture.
For example, a movie based on taking someone “cleancut”
hostage might be more challenging or send a different message, perhaps
presenting a protagonist not used to playing victim and “needing” God.
The passage from Warren that she reads has to do with “what
has been given” to “you” by God. Nichols
says he hasn’t been given anything compared to other people (and he denies the
original crimes. But Kate points out
that Brian has a son. Maybe despite the
expected life sentences, he really can see the boy some day.
I take with a “grain of salt” the idea that one best-selling
book can change a life. I don’t claim to
be able to motivate people or “make them all right” in my “Do Ask, Do Tell”
books, despite being hounded about sales and popularity.
The official site is here from
Paramount (Vantage) and has the culture of independent religious film. Paramount announces the film with its 100th
Anniversary logo.
The end credits show Oprah Winfrey talking to both Smith and Rick Warren, who writes "It's not about you." But I have never seen Christianity in terms of a highly personalized God. I see it through quantum physics.
I saw the film before a small Sunday night audience at AMC
Hoffman in Alexandria. The film does show some aerial shots of Atlanta, but it
was actually filmed mostly in Charlotte and Mexico City.
Picture: downtown Atlanta, my June 2004 trip.
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