Steven - The kidnapping

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Movie
German title Steven - The kidnapping
Original title I know my first name is steven
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1989
length 180 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Larry Elikann
script JP Miller ,
Cynthia Whitcomb
production Kim C. Friese
music David Shire
camera Eric Van Haren Noman
cut David Ramirez ,
Peter V. White
occupation

Steven - The Kidnapping is an American drama designed as a television film . It takes up the kidnapping case of Steven Stayner and Timmy White . The film was directed by Larry Elikann in 1989 and aired in two parts on NBC that fall . In Germany, the film was broadcast on the pay TV station Teleclub in the early 1990s and on August 29, 1992 on free TV on Sat.1 .

action

Seven-year-old Steven Stayner is lured into a car by a stranger with the promise that he will be driven home. His kidnapper later tells him to stay the night because his mother asked him to. His childlike psyche is manipulated for days until he believes that his real parents Del and Kay no longer want him with them. Knowing that they were upset with him and that there are financial problems in the family, he eventually accepts this claim. His father had just impressed on him that you have to "obey" adults.

His kidnapper Kenneth Parnell, who now wants to be called "Dad", keeps Steven with him and explains in public that the boy is his (adoptive) son "Dennis". They often change their place of residence (and thus Steven's school) within California. Parnell begins to sexually abuse Steven from then on . Every day he is forced to give oral pleasure to his "dad". After Steven tries to defend himself at first, he eventually realizes that he has no chance. He cries for a while, then he just lets it go. Although he seeks help from his school psychologist and tells her that his "dad" is not his real dad at all, she thinks he is only longing for his birth parents because of his adoption . So she convinces him that he must finally leave the past behind in order to devote himself entirely to the new family circumstances. Meanwhile, his birth parents try everything to find the boy. Among other things, they send a photo of the missing child to many schools. Tragically, one does not recognize Steven in his "new" school, which also has such a photo.

After seven years, Parnell kidnaps another young boy who is slated to become Stevens' little brother. Steven had probably become of no interest to Parnell at the age of 14. Steven notices that little Timmy is being manipulated in the same way as he was then. Only now does he understand that he was not rejected by his real parents, but that Parnell wanted to keep him calm. Steven takes the little boy and successfully escapes back to his parents.

When what happened to him becomes known to his parents and at school, he is discriminated against as complicit and teased by his schoolmates. Not even his father manages to look him in the eye. Even the legal proceedings against his kidnapper do not help Steven to deal with the exclusion. Parnell is sentenced to five years in prison for kidnapping Timmy. For Steven's kidnapping and seven years of abuse, he is sentenced to 20 more months in prison in the second trial.

After a long period of suicidal thoughts and psychological problems, Steven manages to start a "normal" life. He marries and has two children. Nevertheless, his life ends tragically because Steven dies in a motorcycle accident.

Awards

The film was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Television Film in 1990 . He was nominated for an Emmy Award in four categories, including Larry Elikann as a director. Corin Nemec was nominated for the Young Artist Award in 1990, which the film won for Best Family TV Film . The film was also nominated for the Casting Society of America Award .

Facts on the side

  • Timmy White (the little boy the real Steven saved) now has children of his own. He named his first son Steven in memory of his “savior”.
  • The kidnapper, Kenneth Parnell, was released after five years in prison. He was arrested again in 2003 while trying to buy her child from an impoverished woman. In the course of the Californian “ Three Strike Laws ” he was sentenced to life imprisonment for this - in relation to the crime depicted in the film - minor.
  • Parnell confessed to the author of the book of the same name (Mike Echols) that he had abused Steven 3000 times over the years. When asked if he had ever regretted it, all he said was that he had always hated mopping up all the blood after abusing the initially seven-year-old boy. He stuck to his view that his relationship with "his" boy was "normal" and that he had given him a lot of love.
  • Cary Stayner (Steven's older brother) later became a serial killer (in Yosemite National Park). He was sentenced to death and is currently on death row.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cary Stayner (English WP)