*Potential spoilers*
I'm sorry, but can we please retitle this? Abducted In Plain Sight just doesn't cut it. I think World's Dumbest Parents might suffice, but I'm open to suggestions.
You might think I'm being overly harsh, and I'll allow it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and feelings about, well, anything and everything. I also consider myself to be both empathetic and sympathetic in general. But holy hell. If you watch this and only feel sympathy for the Brobergs, then you are a saint, but I also kind of want to smack you with a fly swatter. If I were Jan Broberg and her sisters, forgiveness would be hard to dish out.
Now that my initial rage has been uncorked, let's get to the center of this. If you haven't heard of Abducted In Plain Sight, it's a documentary about the kidnapping of Jan Broberg in 1974 by her neighbor, Robert Berchtold. What followed was a weeks-long ordeal of abuse and brainwashing, which ended in Berchtold...getting away with it. I'm trying not to give away any major spoilers, and I'm hoping that isn't one of them. If it is, my consolation is that this manages to get even more bizarre, and will no doubt inspire many WTF reactions.
There are certain things I understand about the world and society itself. I understand that people didn't talk about sexual abuse and rape back in the day, even though it was happening to someone in every neighborhood, probably someone you or your family knew. It's still a rampant problem, but we talk about it a little more openly, and it's a common plot device in many modern stories, whether in books or in shows, etc.
My point is, I understand that those were the times of silence. But this was 1974, and when a grown-ass man asks you if he can lay in bed with your 12-year old daughter for therapeutic reasons, you tell him to go take a bath in a vat of acid. When a grown man wants to spend one-on-one time with your little girl, you say no. That's pretty much the only reasonable response. Not, Well, that's kind of weird, but okay. I just...I can't. I mean...how? One of their excuses is that he was "charming." Great, but why does Mr. Charming need to have sleepovers with your kid?
This is difficult for me to review because I honestly don't entirely know what to say about it without caplocking all of my words or giving away every spoiler. I actually started writing this review almost two months ago, leaving it unfinished and unpublished until today. Just watch it and see how you feel. I had moments of outrage, moments when I was incredulous, moments when I snorted because, damn, are they serious?
Overall, this is worth a watch, both in a true crime sense and in a reality check sense. It's always important to be aware of your surroundings, the people around you (no matter how trustworthy they might appear), and of your gut instincts. And, remember, some of the world's most prolific criminals are "charming."
My grade: B+
I'm sorry, but can we please retitle this? Abducted In Plain Sight just doesn't cut it. I think World's Dumbest Parents might suffice, but I'm open to suggestions.
You might think I'm being overly harsh, and I'll allow it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and feelings about, well, anything and everything. I also consider myself to be both empathetic and sympathetic in general. But holy hell. If you watch this and only feel sympathy for the Brobergs, then you are a saint, but I also kind of want to smack you with a fly swatter. If I were Jan Broberg and her sisters, forgiveness would be hard to dish out.
Now that my initial rage has been uncorked, let's get to the center of this. If you haven't heard of Abducted In Plain Sight, it's a documentary about the kidnapping of Jan Broberg in 1974 by her neighbor, Robert Berchtold. What followed was a weeks-long ordeal of abuse and brainwashing, which ended in Berchtold...getting away with it. I'm trying not to give away any major spoilers, and I'm hoping that isn't one of them. If it is, my consolation is that this manages to get even more bizarre, and will no doubt inspire many WTF reactions.
There are certain things I understand about the world and society itself. I understand that people didn't talk about sexual abuse and rape back in the day, even though it was happening to someone in every neighborhood, probably someone you or your family knew. It's still a rampant problem, but we talk about it a little more openly, and it's a common plot device in many modern stories, whether in books or in shows, etc.
My point is, I understand that those were the times of silence. But this was 1974, and when a grown-ass man asks you if he can lay in bed with your 12-year old daughter for therapeutic reasons, you tell him to go take a bath in a vat of acid. When a grown man wants to spend one-on-one time with your little girl, you say no. That's pretty much the only reasonable response. Not, Well, that's kind of weird, but okay. I just...I can't. I mean...how? One of their excuses is that he was "charming." Great, but why does Mr. Charming need to have sleepovers with your kid?
This is difficult for me to review because I honestly don't entirely know what to say about it without caplocking all of my words or giving away every spoiler. I actually started writing this review almost two months ago, leaving it unfinished and unpublished until today. Just watch it and see how you feel. I had moments of outrage, moments when I was incredulous, moments when I snorted because, damn, are they serious?
Overall, this is worth a watch, both in a true crime sense and in a reality check sense. It's always important to be aware of your surroundings, the people around you (no matter how trustworthy they might appear), and of your gut instincts. And, remember, some of the world's most prolific criminals are "charming."
My grade: B+
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