The Kidnapping of Ingrid Betancourt

Whilst this look at Colombian presidential candidate and FARC kidnap victim Ingrid Betancourt gives the viewer a good look at a presidential campaign eclipsed by a crime, it tends to put its subject on a pedestal, leaving its audience with far too many unanswered questions. Colombia's 40 year old civil war is mentioned in passing, and there are some brief attempts to put FARC in context, but too much of the film is spent with Ms. Betancourt's family and friends, who can do little more than express their understandable grief. It would have been far more interesting to focus on the political games going on in Colombia, viewed through the prism of the kidnappings. The film also leaves unspoken the clearly privileged background of Ingrid: surely a factor of some importance in this poverty ridden nation's troubles. Overall, this is a fairly interesting film about a fairly interesting person, but it falls well short of greatness.