Coming to theatres this Friday, May 2: KIDNAPPED FOR CHRIST
Kate S Logan’s look at a disturbing Evangelical Christian behavior modification facility made its debut at Slamdance earlier this year, winning the documentary audience award. It has gone on to screen at Big Sky, Cleveland, Nashville, Miami Gay, and Phoenix.
Despite its scenic setting in the Dominic Republic, Escuela Caribe is hardly a welcome getaway for its inhabitants, teenagers who have been abducted from their homes with the consent of their parents for perceived behavioral problems. Forced to endure the isolation and ludicrously strict rules of their new, bootcamp-like environment, teens like Logan’s primary subject, David, live in limbo, not even guaranteed of release after they turn eighteen. While some inmates briefly reveal some past behavior that might give cause to their parents’ concerns, David is only there because he came out to his parents. When he turns to Logan for help, asking her to pass a note back to his friends about his predicament, this shifts the direction of the student filmmaker’s project to question the rehabilitation function of the facility and to detail the struggle to secure his freedom. Unfortunately, at the same time, this seems to grant Logan license to make herself an active participant in the film, a distracting approach which I’ve written about before and remain convinced is, as is the case here, usually unnecessary. Ultimately, the idea behind the film is much more compelling than the execution, though it should be noted that, at least initially, Logan is able to get some surprisingly candid and eye-opening interviews with the institution’s staff.
what (not) to doc 