This film was reviewed at the recent Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto where it was picked a top-ten audience favourite.
Abduction is a film about a parent's worst fear – having their child disappear without a trace.
Megumi Yokota is just 13 years old in 1977 when she embarks on a routine walk home from school badminton practice and is never seen again. Investigations by police in the coastal city of Niigata, Japan where Megumi lives turn up nothing. Years pass and her anxious parents continue their seemingly hopeless quest to find their daughter.
That is, until a neighbour shares with them a newspaper article they think might offer a clue. It reports that at least 11 other young Japanese had disappeared from coastal areas in the years surrounding Megumi's disappearance. It is rumoured they were abducted by North Korean spies. In 1993, a North Korean spy who defected to Japan tracks down Megumi's parents to confirm their suspicions: their daughter is alive and living with other abducted Japanese at a training centre for North Korean spies in Pyongyang. They are teaching the agents to speak and behave as Japanese.
The revelation of these appalling secrets unites the families of the missing Japanese in a determined campaign to get back their relatives, chronicled mainly through the story of Megumi's parents.
As a result of the families' investigations and lobbying of the Japanese government, in September 2002, North Korea's communist leader Kim Jong Il met with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and admitted to the kidnappings. Japan was shocked to learn that only 4 of 12 abductees have survived.
This film keeps us hooked from beginning to end wondering if Megumi is still alive and if her family will see her again. Although North Korea claims she is dead, her family refuses believe the words of practiced liars. The North Korean defector insists she is now married, has a child, and is alive and well.
Husband-and-wife directors Chris Sheridan and Patty Kim have skillfully pasted together a varied collection of archival and original material. The story is handled with sensitivity while keeping us gripping our seat arms throughout - the suspense is intense. A drum-heavy soundtrack creates a sense of dis-ease that mirrors what is unfolding on the screen.
Abduction will screen June 11 at the Atlanta Film Festival in Atlanta, GA, and again June 17 at the Sydney Film Festival in Sydney, Australia. Info at www.safarimedia.net .
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