Best movie of this year hands down!

Just perfect...

The first must-see film of the year.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

I want to start off my review by stating that the victims, Michelle Knight (Now Lily Rose Lee), Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus deserve all respect and dignity for the atrocities they went through.This film does not give them that, especially Amanda and Gina.We can disregard the bad taste in making a film about a horror. The point of such films should be about informing people of what happened and how such horror should be watched out for and how people can help in these situations. It shouldn't be about entertainment.The sin of this film is that it clearly is a message to entertain people and not on the truth.This film focuses on one of the victims, Michelle, and that is probably one of the worst decisions made. It almost ignores the other two which is beyond frustrating. Why were their stories not worth being told? Why did we only see their families grief through the eyes of Michelle? Worse, the grief was shown for the purpose of highlighting the fact that Michelle had no one looking for her. Instead of feeling pain for Gina and Amanda's families, we were supposed to feel sadness that Michelle did not have that. Important moments like when Amanda learns of her mother's death from a news story were told strictly through Michelle's eyes when it would have been better served to have been told from the grieving daughter.Michelle's story deserved to be told, but so did Amanda's and Gina'sAnother problem is because this is a film meant to tell strictly Michelle's story and also with the guise to entertain instead of inform, the filmmakers made the decision to twist the truth to pull focus onto Michelle. This causes problems because in many instances it makes the other two victims appear worse. They present both Amanda and Gina as entirely subservient to Ariel and completely under his thumb from the beginning, both too afraid to even entertain the idea of escaping while Michelle is always looking for ways to get out. When reading the book written by both Amanda and Gina it is clear that both of them tried to find ways of getting out, including a moment where Amanda considered stealing the very van they were all abducted in. By trying to prop up Michelle as the "strong one" they make the other two look meek and ignore the bravery of ALL THREE of them.But the example that bothers me the most is at the very end of the film. After the three of them are rescued it shows them all trying to move on. In a particularly tragic scene Gina informs Michelle she wants to stop talking to her for a while so she can move on. Its' sad because its supposed to highlight the fact that Michelle is alone again, no family, no son and now now help from the other two people she could share her story with.The problem is that this simply is NOT true. The fact is it was Michelle who needed to separate herself from Gina and Amanda and told them both this, even though they are still in contact to this day. Gina and Amanda see each other every week and are in constant contact and in fact wrote a book together. Michelle needed to separate herself from them in order to heal, since she was older and went through some atrocities they did not (such as being forced to miscarry 5 times and losing custody of her son) it is certainly understandable that she would need space from her two fellow captors in order to healFor the film to completely lie and try to paint Michelle as the one abandoned is a complete and utter disservice to Amanda and Gina. It is horrifying that they would decide to mute the voices of two of the victims. I know this film was based on Michelle's book, but that doesn't mean it was right to almost ignore the stories of Gina and Amanda. All three of them deserve more than this piece of crap.

Once upon a time there was a wicked ogre named Ariel Castro who snatched three girls off the street and held them captive in secret in a residential area for over a decade. Imagine if that story had come down to us from ancient Greece, or even a much more recent era.Okay, let's try another approach, imagine this was a novel or a film script, would it get past the slush pile or anywhere near a studio? Of course not. Sadly, this well-documented tale of sexual sadism and just plain sadism is not only more outrageous than any such legendary or fictional offering, it is 100% true. "Cleveland Abduction" has been given a semi-documentary format, seen mostly through the eyes of Michelle Knight, Castro's first victim, and the one who suffered most. We follow the tale from Michelle's abduction as far as her victim impact statement at his trial. Sadly or otherwise, Castro avoided a living hell by committing suicide a mere month into his life sentence. Doubtless he will have gone to the real one where he will occupy a place or torment only slightly less hot than Ted Bundy.This film is well acted by all the players. How could he have got away with it for so long? We can all ask that question, but wisdom is hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Overall, the film certainly was enthralling. However, the reason for this is the fascinating and truly disturbing nature of this heinous, cold, brutal and unfathomable crime, not the quality of the script or screenplay.I understand Michelle's reasons for wanting to authorise and contribute to the making of this film, but sadly that doesn't change the fact that the finished product is rushed and does no justice to the sheer despair and pain these girls felt captive in that place. This case shocked me at the time, but when recently I was reminded of it after watching a Fritzl documentary, I became really intrigued by many things about this case. Castro as a person, his deceiving ways of luring the victims, that house, the street, Cleveland as a place. I've seen the interviews and news coverage, Castro's statement in court etc. As a sociologist, its truly mind boggling that these women made it through such a distressing, frightening and brutal situation. How did it go unnoticed? How is it possible with people visiting that house? In some parallel American universe, boarded up windows on a residential house is somehow inconspicuous, and the fact that the police ignored reports of screams is diabolical on their behalf. If that was England, the previous two points I made would undoubtedly prompted more of a reaction by the Police. All this movie did for me was shed more light on what went on in the house and Ariel's relationship with the girls, so for that I can't fault it much. But some of the acting and the way the scenes play out doesn't in any way capture the extent of the suffering that took place and the effects it could have on someone. Amanda Berry being apparently alone all the time in another room and having a child with him deserved more airtime than she received, as well as Gina being so so very young, naive and scared too. What i'm saying is that this story needs a better director, around 200 minutes minimum, a much bigger budget and a plot that delves deeper into the circumstances around each kidnapping and the effects on each victim, individually.May all three of these women have the rest of their lives filled with joy and may they be able to move past this hell and be loved like they deserved, along with Amanda's child.

Vapid, bland acting on the part of the lead who plays Michelle Knight, does not look like her, act like her, talk like her, I cannot understand why this untalented woman was cast as this part. She showed the least emotion of the three female actresses and I was wincing more for how bad her acting was than how horribly Michelle Knight was treated. I read Michelle's book and have studied this case and watched her interviews, this lead was horribly miscast. The male lead was not much better, he was way too good-looking to be that demon-man monster, he was too nice and not psychopathic enough at all. It was way too much of a story to cram into 90 minutes, I am not sure any movie or documentary or book will ever do justice to what happened to these girls and the daughter produced in captivity. The actresses who played Gina and Amanda were far better cast and were credible actors. As far as the storyline, it was superficial and glossed over so many important issues, like how the police ignored this man-- a man who had beaten his common-law wife to a pulp years before kidnapping these girls, how the police came to the home when there were reports of screams and noises and did not attempt to enter; how somehow this man was not considered a suspect in the circle of at least Gina's world when he had a violent history and knew her by way of his own daughter. I am stunned the police were this blind, how this man was literally hiding in plain sight for so long. My best wishes for these four victims in that home is that that their futures are filled with every good thing that they would like from now on, that they will find love and appreciation and healing and fulfillment. But if you do not know the story do not rely on this cheeseball Lifetime show. Read Michelle's book, read Amanda and Gina's book, watch their interviews. This was a waste of time and did not do them justice in any way. Someone out there make a better movie than this about what happened for 11 years in Cleveland!