Cleveland Abduction

Cleveland Abduction

2015 "Based on a true story."
Cleveland Abduction
Cleveland Abduction

Cleveland Abduction

6.6 | 1h28m | en | Drama

A single mother becomes Ariel Castro's first kidnapping victim, and finds herself trapped in his home with two other women for 11 years.

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6.6 | 1h28m | en | Drama , Crime , TV Movie | More Info
Released: May. 02,2015 | Released Producted By: Lifetime , Sony Pictures Television Studios Country: United States of America Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:
Synopsis

A single mother becomes Ariel Castro's first kidnapping victim, and finds herself trapped in his home with two other women for 11 years.

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Cast

Taryn Manning , Raymond Cruz , Katie Sarife

Director

Kevin Taylor

Producted By

Lifetime , Sony Pictures Television Studios

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Reviews

Michael O'Keefe Alex Kalyminios directs this story written by Stephen Tolkin of the true-life account of a Cleveland single mother Michelle Knight(Taryn Manning)and her 11-year imprisonment in the home of Ariel Castro(Raymond Cruz). Castro, psychotic and sadistic, damaged himself as a child, was compelled to take out his aggression. The school bus driver kidnapped Michelle as she was trying to go to court to get her three year old son back from social services.Being a made for TV movie for the Lifetime Channel, this film could have been more gruesome and disturbing than it is. Michelle would become impregnated by Castro and forced into miscarriage. Two other women would be kidnapped and held captive. Amanda Berry(Samantha Doke)and Gina DeJesus(Katie Sarife)were also physically, mentally and sexually abused by their monster captor. The three women helped each other survive. Michelle would be forced to help deliver a child birthed by Amanda.Miss Knight found strength in thoughts of her son, her ability to write poetry and her singular faith in God. The woman plotted ways to escape and physically tried making their bodies stronger. But it was a fluke that Ariel, usually so self-assured, carelessly left the front door of his home unlocked. Amanda managed to get the attention of neighbors that led to a miraculous rescue and arrest of Castro.Also in the cast: Pam Grier, Joe Morton and Grace Ransom.
Melissa McDaid Taryn Manning plays a tremendous part in this true story. While I understand many viewers frustration at the focus being mostly on Michelle's character, I believe that it is important to remember that the film is based mostly on Michelle's book which helped steer the story in that direction. Although difficult to watch at times due to the implied brutality, I was unable to take my eyes from the screen the entire movie. Depicts the story of these 3 young girls (and not forgetting the daughter) excellently while allowing an understanding as to why the girls were never able to escape. This would have been an 8 star review if not for the performance of Taryn Manning, which bumps it up to 9 stars.
Al Stewart From the start it was clear that this TV movie was based on Michelle Knight's story and not that of Amanda Berry & Gina Dejesus'.It felt like only half of the story was being told, and not even truthfully told (the tying up and hoisting of Michelle) There was no way the makers of this film could ever have portrayed the tense,traumatic, life threatening ordeal that spanned 10 years into a movie of around 113 minutes. It started quite promisingly but rapidly descended into a rushed, lazy account with mediocre acting and what I can only assume is artistic license, why else would they stray from the actual story written by the actual person abducted! I'm sure this will not be the only movie made about such a horrific and truly astonishing event, my only hope is that it is made with more depth, thought, accuracy,and better acting. Get a decent director on board, one who cares about the delicate subject at hand.
Ed-Shullivan This drama is based on actual events that occurred over a period of more than ten (10) years. The actual perpetrator Ariel Castro was 42 when he first abducted Michelle Knight on August 21, 2002. Michelle was in the process of trying to regain custody of her son from the state when she was abducted. Michelle had agreed to get in to Ariel Castro's truck as she knew Ariel's daughter so she failed to see any danger in getting in to Ariel's truck at that time.Subsequent to Michelle Knight's kidnapping Ariel then kidnapped Amanda Berry on April 21, 2003 and Gina DeJesus on April 02, 2004. The film focuses mainly on the relationship between the dominant kidnapper Ariel Castro (played by Raymond Cruz) and his first victim Michelle Knight (played by Taryn Manning). The film does more than an adequate job in the 90 minutes made available to capture the imprisonment of the three young girls and how Ariel Castro first physically and then mentally subjected his kidnapping victims to torture to the point that they knew if they even attempted to escape they would receive a beating.Fortunately for the films viewers we were spared any vivid graphic violence and rape of the three girls. Actor Raymond Cruz recently starred in the multi Emmy winning series Breaking Bad as drug kingpin Tuco Salamanca. For those of you who have watched Breaking Bad you will be familiar with Tuco's violent and crazy side so when I first heard that Raymond Cruz was playing the role of the vile Ariel Castro I was a bit concerned that the film may include some gratuitous violence as it was in Raymond Cruz's capacity as an actor to emulate this scum of the earth kidnapper Ariel Castro. Fortunately the director Alex Kalymnios chose to maintain a factual film theme and limit the depiction of the hundreds of rapes and beatings that Ariel Castro subjected his victims to.This 90 minute film also does a good job of encapsulating the friendship and feeling of family the three girls shared which most likely made it a bit more bearable under the circumstances of being chained, beaten and repeatedly raped. As in the actual events we get to see how Amanda Berry gave birth to Ariel Castro's daughter with the assistance of Michelle Knight who was threatened with death if she did not succeed in ensuring Amanda's baby lived.It is sad to realize that Castro's first victim, Michelle Knight was considered a runaway and very little was done to look for her as she was 21 years old at the time of her abduction. The press and police had communicated publicly that she most likely chose on her own accord to disappear as she had lost custody of her son to the state. Taryn Manning who played Michelle Knight made the audience feel how a kidnapped victim may have despaired as the years progressed and the abuse continued. In fact the film also depicts how Ariel Castro beat Michelle up when he felt she was pregnant with his child and so he ensured Michelle would abort the fetus by hitting her in the stomach with a barbell and kicking her in the stomach.This is both a film about hopelessness, family by circumstances, and the evil of men with no conscience. Castro was arrested on May 06, 2013, more than 10 years and 8 months since he first abducted Michelle Knight. As mentioned earlier the films run time was only approximately 90 minutes and maybe the producers could have provided more in depth of the psyche of both the perpetrator Ariel Castro and the victims at the time of their abduction who were Michelle Knight (21), Amanda Berry (she turned 17 the day after her abduction) and the youngest and last of his victims Gina Dejesus (14) had the film been produced as a 4 or 6 hour mini-series.I felt the producers did a very good job in providing the facts of this 11 year case history. Remember when Castro was arrested on May 06, 2013, CNN news carried the story almost exclusively for the next two weeks, 24 hours a day. No one could believe that not one but "THREE" young girls who were missing and presumed dead for years were being held prisoners less than 3 miles from their own homes. By the end of the film it leaves us with the question if Ariel Castro deliberately wanted to get caught and so he neglected to lock the front door because he was behind on his mortgage payments, could not afford to feed his 3 captors and his child, and after close to eleven years of maintaining a prison in his home he had just had enough of the lies, beatings and rapes that he had been responsible for.This is a tragic but true story that covers a lot of abuse and actual events that the kidnapper Ariel Castro was able to hide from his own children, his band mates who actually practiced as a band in his home, and his two brothers who were initially also arrested under the assumption that they had to have known about the kidnappings and 10 year imprisonment when in fact Ariel was able to keep everyone fooled including his own family by keeping locks on the basement door as well as the upstairs bedrooms and by sealed windows.I hope the victims benefit financially from this film and if so I recommend the film to parents and children alike to ensure one of the films messages is clear. That message being if you are getting in to someone's vehicle make sure your family knows where you are going and with whom you are going. I give this true story a 7 out of 10 rating.