Stephanie Tobey

TEN BURNING QUESTIONS: Skye Borgman’s ABDUCTED IN PLAIN SIGHT is a dream of impossibility for the true crime documentary enthusiast

By John Wildman 7 years ago

Skye Borgman’s ABDUCTED IN PLAIN SIGHT is a dream of impossibility for the true crime documentary enthusiast. Tracing the two abduction/kidnappings of a pre-teen Jan Broberg by Bob Berchtold with the arguable permission of her parents, the film begins with a reality that is hard for one to wrap their head around, even acknowledging that the events of the film took place in the 70s and to a naïve Mormon family in Idaho – that two parents would stand by and more or less give permission to a man to take their little girl and even “marry” her.

SIDEWALK Film Fest 2017 REVIEW: The devil really is in the details in Skye Borgman’s true-crime documentary FOREVER B

By Geoff Marslett 8 years ago

These twists reveal the many ways a vulnerable child, her desires to be special and a natural tendency toward rebellion can all be cultivated by a victimizer – that is expected in this kind of case – but it doesn’t stop there. Berchtold uses elements of psychology, sexual advances and even sci-fi to exploit similar needs in the very people that could have protected her, and that is what is most chilling in the documentary.