Review of Stockholm, Pennsylvania (2015) by Moya W — 04 Nov 2015

Stockholm, Pennsylvania is the story about a twenty-two year old girl who was kidnapped at the age of four, now eighteen years later she is back with her biological family. The family that she can't remember and she is having a hard time fitting in.

Movies about abduction and the Stockholmsyndrome can all be very different and they can all lead you in very different directions. You can end up sympathising with the family who just got their child back after having been away from each other for almost twenty years. Or you can end up sympathising with the child, all she knows is what she's been living with for these past eighteen years, she can't remember anything else and any type of change in her life is going to be difficult. Or you can end up sympathising with the abductor, maybe he couldn't have children of his own or maybe he was very lonely.

In this movie I felt that I sympathised with her - Leia - played by Saoirse Ronan. I could understand why she had a hard time fitting in, because everyone around her was trying too hard. I could understand why she had a connection with Ben. I could understand why she felt the way she did. I had a hard time understanding the parents, they were manipulative and I didn't really understand why they were the way they were.

It was difficult to sit through the movie, you never really got into it the way that you had hoped. Although it was a good storyline and it was a story that needed to be told. Saoirse Ronan is one of the best actresses of her generation and this movie wasn't an exception.