The drama film shown on TV today tells the story of Elizabeth Smart’s kidnapping with chilling accuracy.
American Elizabeth Smart was 14 years old when he was kidnapped in the middle of the night from his own bed at knifepoint in the summer of 2002.
Over the course of nine months Brian Mitchell and his wife Wanda Barzee kept Smart prisoner in a forest camp and raped him daily. Mitchell repeatedly threatened to kill Smart and drugged her with alcohol and drugs.
Mitchell also entered into a “marriage” with Smart. The man claimed to be an angel and a Davidic king who would rise from the dead and destroy the antichrist.
Elizabeth Smart herself was heavily involved in the filmmaking process. Mitchell is played by Skeet Ulrich, Elizabeth by Alana Boden. PDO
Smart was finally found in March 2003, 29 kilometers away from his home, when eyewitnesses had recognized Mitchell, who had been moving around the city, from the images shown on television drawn by a police cartoonist.
A drama film based on the case is being shown on TV today I Am Elizabeth Smart (2017), in which Smart, who is now in his thirties, was actively involved in, among other things, the role of producer. Smart also acts as a narrator during the dramatized scenes.
Smart wanted the film to tell as realistically as possible what happened to him, without embellishing anything.
– Do you want it to end? That’s what I wanted too, says Smart, when the first rape scene is shown in the film.
Smart has since dedicated his life to activism and helping kidnap victims. PDO
At the time of the film’s release, Smart said E! Newsin in an interview that he had watched the film once and would never watch it again – that was how true it was. Smart described the viewing experience as horrendous.
I Am Elizabeth Smart today at Ava at 22:25 & Katsomo. See all TV programs and broadcast times in Telku’s TV guide.