3096 Tage (2013)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Wolfgang Priklopil	Thure Lindhardt	½
Natascha Kampusch	Antonia Campbell-Hughes
Young Natascha	Amelia Pidgeon	½
Brigitta Sirny	Trine Dyrholm

Review

One of the great things about Natascha Kampusch's autobiography "3096 Tage", about her time in captivity in Wolfgang Priklopil's cellar, is that it is nonspeculative and discussion-based. Even the perpetrator is portrayed in a forgiving light; she wants to understand him more than condemn him. None of these qualities are anywhere to be found in this ill-conceived adaptation, however, which on the surface is true to Kampusch's account, but in essence is sleazy, indelicate and, to make things worse, staccato. To elaborate on that final characteristic: Nothing here feels like it's flowing, everything seems forced - from the at times awful acting, particularly by the horribly miscast, out of depth and far too old Antonia Campbell-Hughes in the adult female lead, via Sherry Hormann's clumsy direction, and to the strangely fluorescent cinematography, which surprisingly is by award-winning German veteran Michael Ballhaus. I guess a bad team effort affects everyone. And this is certainly one. I feel sorry for Ms. Kampusch who has to see her life-story treated like this.

PS! The film is a German production, filmed in Bayern/Wien, but in the English language, which does not exactly add to its level of authenticity.