 |
In Colombia, a nation scarred by civil strife for close to 40 years, Ingrid Betancourt shook up the political scene and garnered national prominence with a bold campaign against drug cartels and political corruption. In the midst of her ambitious 2002 presidential candidacy, Betancourt was silenced after she was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) -- and spent election day deep in the jungle, just one more of nearly three thousand such victims each year.
A film by Victoria Bruce and Karin Hayes, the CINEMAX Reel Life presentation THE KIDNAPPING OF INGRID BETANCOURT recounts the extraordinary story of one woman's fight to purge her nation of corruption and her family's desperate struggle to free her and keep her message alive.
THE KIDNAPPING OF INGRID BETANCOURT chronicles Betancourt's controversial political career, drawing on radio interviews she gave on a U.S. book tour just prior to her abduction, as well as employing newsreel and archival footage, and interviews with family and colleagues. She put her life at risk by speaking out against the status quo, and in 1994, won a seat in the House of Representatives. In the subsequent 1998 election, she received the highest vote total in Colombia, securing a place in the Senate. Compelled to send her young children abroad for their safety after death threats to her family, Betancourt wrote a story of passion, sacrifice and political drama.
On Feb. 14, 2002, seeking to encourage peace between the government and the guerrillas, Betancourt and two other presidential candidates met with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a guerrilla group that allegedly built its power base with money from drugs and kidnappings. She implored the FARC to stop the kidnappings and free its hostages. Nine days after the meeting, Betancourt and Clara Rojas, her campaign manager, were kidnapped while driving into FARC territory.
Five days later, filmmakers Victoria Bruce and Karin Hayes, who had originally planned to join Betancourt on the campaign trail, decided to grab their cameras and document the unfolding events. THE KIDNAPPING OF INGRID BETANCOURT documents the struggle of her family and political party to free her and keep her presidential campaign alive. Her husband, political novice Juan Carlos Lecompte, scrambles to preserve Betancourt's dream and sustain the Oxygen Geen Party, the political party she founded. "We will make sure that Ingrid is on the ballot," he declares, "because in Colombia, there are 3,000 kidnappings a year. So there is a law that you can run for congress or even for president, even though you are not in physical presence."
On May 26, 2002, Bruce and Hayes watch the presidential elections from Bogotá's regal Plaza de Bolivar. Betancourt is represented in the Plaza by a cardboard torso - carried in the arms of her husband and mother, Yolanda Pulecio.
In the end, Alvaro Uribe wins the election. Betancourt takes fifth place in a field of 11 candidates, with just over 50,000 votes, enough to save the Oxygen Green Party for future elections. To this day, she is still in captivity, and her family continues the campaign to free her. Two proof-of-life videos (July 2002 and August 2003) were released by the FARC, and serve as a haunting ending to the film.
THE KIDNAPPING OF INGRID BETANCOURT is produced and directed by Victoria Bruce and Karin Hayes; edited by Geof Bartz, Karin Hayes and Victoria Bruce; original music, George Shaw, Simon Gentry and Jeff Thomson; photography, Cesar Pinzón; sound, Mauricio Mesa and Humberto Pinzón;. For HBO/CINEMAX Documentary Films: associate producer, Sara Bernstein; supervising producer, Lisa Heller; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.
For more information on the film and filmmakers, check out Urcuninafilms
|
|
|
    |
