MovieChat Forums > Cleveland Abduction (2015) Discussion > What a letdown...typical Lifetime nonsen...

What a letdown...typical Lifetime nonsense

posted 10 years ago by illyrianX
6 replies | jump to latest

I've been following the Cleveland case ever since it came to light, and read both Michelle and Amanda and Gina's books, and was moved to tears by what they went through. It's beyond horrific to think about and, although I should know better than to trust this crap network's cheesy movies, the preview made me think that it might be a rare exception.

Unfortunately not. The story was wildly inaccurate, which is shocking considering the amount of reference material they had to work with. The horrors that the girls experienced, although unusually raw for a Lifetime film, were completely watered down. I'm not saying they should have shown every gritty detail, but they didn't remotely capture just how horrible things were for them, or the isolation or psychological toll it took (for instance, the many days they spent chained down in the van during a heat wave, where they kept passing out from heat stroke and dehydration, yet used the opportunity to bond a bit...only to have that destroyed later when he turned them against each other by saying each of them tattled on the other).

Basically, everything was so rushed, the characters were extremely one-dimensional and I feel that the film was downright insulting in its lame portrayal of these 3 amazingly strong girls. I was crying my eyes out throughout the books because I knew it was real and it was horrifying yet inspiring to see how far they've come. This movie, however, was pure fiction, altered beyond recognition for dramatic effect rather than an honest depiction of their lives. I doubt any of them will watch it but I'm guessing Gina and Amanda in particular would be pretty pissed off if they did. Even Michelle, who I'm sure was only on set for certain scenes and couldn't get the full gist of the changes being made, would likely be diappointed.

I really wanted to be impressed by this one but it was, as I should have expected, a total failure 

[–] P_e_n_n_y_L_a_n_e 10 years ago

To get that, it would probably be a miniseries and on HBO or Netflix, something without broadcast limits (and without all of the damn commercials) like Lifetime has.

[–] mullin216 10 years ago

Sorry I'm a little disturbed that you wanted to see all that

[–] illyrianX 10 years ago

What a ridiculous thing to say. My point is that the books were very hard to read and very emotionally devastating. If you can't respect what they survived by relating their story properly, then why tell it at all? Why have some sort of rushed, highly inaccurate portrayal of their experience and tout it as "the real story" when it clearly isn't?

My issue is that I feel the film was an insult to the girls. It sensationalized and overdramatized it instead of focusing on the things they really went through, like the isolation and mental games. It made everything into typical melodramatic Lifetime nonsense. I can't imagine any of the girls would really approve if they ever chose to sit through this film, because it so completely missed the mark, although I imagine none of them will want to see it anyway.

[–] keno4518 10 years ago

You are sick

[–] illyrianX 10 years ago

You seem to have trouble reading. Nothing in my original post qualifies as "sick." Pointing out that I was hoping for a respectful retelling of a book that pretty much made me cry start to finish, and instead got stereotypical cringe-inducing Lifetime movie drivel is a perfectly valid opinion. If you're going to make a movie about what these girls went through, and then not actually tell their story (like Amanda and Michelle not coming face to face for a really long time; Gina's whole side story before meeting the other two), then what's the point? I understand it had to be condensed but they did so at the expense of any character development.

Did you even read the books? These girls went through HELL. Exploring their personalities and how they were individually strong enough to survive is what the film should have been doing. Instead, they took way too much creative license, didn't do the girls justice at all, and yet have the nerve to say it's "exactly what happened." In my opinion, THAT is sick.

[–] aldstewart 10 years ago

I completely agree with everything you have said.