Even though the subject matter of the kidnapping of an innocent teenage girl is a disgusting issue, I couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculous elements of Patty Hearst's brainwashing by the Symbionese Liberation Army who aren't exactly presented as highly intellectual or even literate, given the most ridiculous dialogue that must have been embarrassing for some of the theatrically trained actors spouting it.
The film opens with Patty (played with great care by the late Natasha Richardson) being kidnapped and put into a darkened room, eventually given a little bit of life even though her eyes remained covered. Members of the SLA continue to come in, first in threatening ways, then reciting the SLA mantra, and finally with sexual intentions, showing Richardson agreeing rather reluctantly to have sex with SLA leader Ving Rahms.
Hearst manages to survive this ordeal, and when given the options of being released and returning home with no consequences or joining the SLA battle, she makes the wrong choice. It is obvious that this is a very difficult subject matter to be done successfully, and it is so oddly filmed that the mood goes from one extreme to another, making a viewer alternatively angry at one moment and laughing at it the next period it's a shame that director Paul Schrader couldn't come up with a more intelligent way of telling an important story, because the film is so choppy in many ways that it easily could have been released directly for television had some of the more violent moments and excessive bad language been cut out.
The film opens with Patty (played with great care by the late Natasha Richardson) being kidnapped and put into a darkened room, eventually given a little bit of life even though her eyes remained covered. Members of the SLA continue to come in, first in threatening ways, then reciting the SLA mantra, and finally with sexual intentions, showing Richardson agreeing rather reluctantly to have sex with SLA leader Ving Rahms.
Hearst manages to survive this ordeal, and when given the options of being released and returning home with no consequences or joining the SLA battle, she makes the wrong choice. It is obvious that this is a very difficult subject matter to be done successfully, and it is so oddly filmed that the mood goes from one extreme to another, making a viewer alternatively angry at one moment and laughing at it the next period it's a shame that director Paul Schrader couldn't come up with a more intelligent way of telling an important story, because the film is so choppy in many ways that it easily could have been released directly for television had some of the more violent moments and excessive bad language been cut out.