Sequestro: A Story Of a Kidnapping

In Columbia, a kidnapping occurs every seven hours and, more often than not, it's for monetary not personal reasons. In 1985, Sylvia Motta, a 20-year-old Columbian woman was abducted and kept chained to a bed for three months during the negotiations between her father and her captors. Directed by Camila Motta, the victim's sister, Sequestro is, in essence, the story of a business transaction; only here the merchandise is human. Mixing interviews with the Motta family and police officials, grainy black-and-white footage of Sylvia's captivity, and recorded conversations between the senior Motta and the kidnappers, the film eschews the emotional outpouring and melodramatic teases germane to this type of material. But that's not to say that Sequestro is a dry financial account: the cracks in Motta's negotiating armor are evident and--though not overstated--quite touching. As he struggles to keep the kidnappers on the phone long enough for a trace, raise money behind the scenes, and always maintain a business-like face to his unseen tormentors, the senior Motta grows more and more desperate as time passes, eventually seeking the counsel of fortune tellers. A powerful film about the uneasy line between money and morality that raises awful questions about acceptable risks and human worth. Highly recommended. (R. Pitman)