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Abducted: Kidnapped and Brutalized shows a woman in beaded overalls sitting at the back of a van. A ski-mode covers her face and she speaks to the camera about the need to film everything that she is about to say. Next, the doors of the van are opened where a man is handcuffed and pushed into the van. The doors close with the van driving off hurriedly. Clearly outraged, the man in the van begins to complain about being held against his will and expresses his confusion about the entire situation.
Expecting sympathy, the victim states that ironically he had plans of getting married that same day. The kidnapers do not answer his question. Rather than provide answers, his assailants use physical intimidation. The kidnappers are accusing him of doing a diabolical thing, which he is fully contesting.
The van arrives at the parking lot of a disused warehouse after quite a while. After being pulled out of the vehicle, the man is taken to a large arbitrary room surrounded by colossal walls. At this nefarious location, he bears witness to a horrifying sight, his kidnappers had also gotten his wife-to-be. Subsequently, the unredeeming violent torture intensifies as his wife-to-be’s gaze fixates on him in horror. Now, there are some dread facts that the audience now learns, such facts that illuminate the ring of contradiction – sympathy and rage.
It was once said that Abducted is a good story poorly told which is better than a bad story told elegantly. Here we see a good story and strong narrative structure. David Bryant did not only manage to construct an exceptional film but he also managed to do it with a meager budget of 1500 pounds.
As I started to watch the film, I could tell that I was in for a treat. The first thing that came to mind was a movie I saw a couple of years ago titled Russian Ark, by Alexander Sokurov. The parallelism that both of the films shared was that the Russian Ark was shot in one take, now, I found out Bryant has done the same, he shot his entire film in one take, no editing…and one take, ninety minutes… that was it. It is quite clear to me that by not attempting to cut and edit his film, all of the emotional effects on the viewer would have been lost in translation.
By filming the movie in this fashion, Bryant does not allow the viewer to disengage from what they are witnessing, which made me feel like I was a participant in the interrogation, perhaps even like the person behind the camera. It no longer felt like a movie, this was the reality and it was happening right before my eyes.
The quality cast truly brought the entire event alive and made it seem incredibly real. Nina Milns as the wife to be, did not have much time but nonetheless, gave a jaw-dropping portrayal of a woman in a virtual emotional storm. As the kidnapped groom, John Bocelli has the very tough task of emotion acting continously, and he was able to pull this off with great success. Sarah Coyle as the head of the interrogators plays her role quite well, and John is excellent in his endless torture of questioning. It was so tempting to overact and be a bit sadistic, but she doesn’t… she played her role smart, tough but always in control of her feelings and that made her convincing. Even Andy Cresswell, who has a minor role as one of her subordinates, subdued his character and made his portrayal as the subordinate believable.
Equally, what struck me is how Abducted neither supports nor condemns the subject matter. You are given the power to decide what to think and what to conclude from the happenings. Unlike most films, the ending does not resort to the ease of a formulaic wrap-up, and instead forces you to ponder about the fate of the people embroiled in the incident.
This film’s title is its only shortcoming. For the UK audience, it was going to be released under the title “Victims“. It is a pity that title was dropped because the movie is fundamentally about how certainlife circumstances can turn an individual into a victim.
But I can say that Abducted got into my head, and days after the viewing I was still thinking about it. Bryant’s film demonstrates that with a good script, and under strict budgetary limitations, all is not lost. In the end, it is always the story that counts.
I wish I could say that I like this film because it is a huge understatement. This is a refreshing, exciting, and invigorating experience. Just like French New Wave film movement, I can say that after you have watched Abducted, you will have a tough time forgetting it.
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