Few people can witness stories of children suffering without feeling their heartstrings pulled. I’m thinking of the upcoming film Soul on Fire, 2023’s Sound of Freedom, and Audrey’s Children. The stories of what people will do to help a suffering child are always inspiring.
Stolen Girl, a new film starring Kate Beckinsale and Scott Eastwood, showcases the suffering of a parent whose child is abducted, only this abduction was perpetrated by the other parent. Inspired by a true story, the film follows Maureen (Beckinsale), a divorcee who adores her four-year-old daughter, Amina (played by Rosa & Valeria Di Cosimo). Mara, as Maureen is called, lives with her ailing father (Matt Craven) in a run-down mobile home in Ohio. Reluctantly, she allows her ex-husband, Karim (Arvin Kananian), visiting rights.
One day, Mara is picking up her father’s medication in a store when Amina wanders off. When Mara turns around, Amina is nowhere to be found. Frantic, she runs through the store asking others if they’ve seen a little girl to no avail. Mara knows in her heart that Karim has taken Amina to his native Syria. Thus begins Mara’s ten-year search for her daughter.
Getting nowhere with law enforcement — since it isn’t illegal for a parent to take their child out of the country — Mara turns to Washington, DC, making herself a fixture in the halls of power and protesting on the steps of government buildings.
Mara’s long-term efforts attract the attention of Mitch Robeson (Eastwood) who introduces himself as being in the “child recovery business.” He has a proposition for Mara: work with him in recovering other abducted children and he will help her find her daughter. She jumps at the offer even as she asks Robeson, “Is it legal?”
Stolen Girl is mostly an action-packed thriller even as it keeps Mara’s search for Amina in the foreground by periodically reminding the audience of how many months have gone by since Amina’s abduction. As that number climbs, Mara becomes increasingly desperate to find Amina, leading her to accept the questionable legality and violence of the covert work she’s doing.
As it becomes clear that Robeson’s strings are being pulled by another, Mara experiences a roller coaster of emotions as betrayal and hope crash together. In the end, the film’s redemption comes in its portrayal of the cost of sacrificial love.
Stolen Girl opens in theaters on September 26th.