It's been several years since I watched this movie, and I only stumbled upon the IMDB entry after recently becoming a fan of Amber Marshall from watching "Heartland." I live in Utah and very closely followed this story including going on one of the searches. I am also a very active Mormon aka member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Obviously since I haven't seen the movie since it aired I remember little of it, but one thing I do remember from the movie is that the actress who played Elizabeth's mom Lois is wearing a sleeveless dress. Had the producers done even the slightest research on the Mormon church and the Mormon faith they would have known that a practicing adult Mormon woman because of the special clothing which we wear under our regular clothes always wears at least a cap sleeve. I also remember hearing a report that someone had to ask that prop coffee cups be moved from a breakfast table on the set. Many are aware that coffee is against what Mormons call the "Word of Wisdom" their health code. Those two items are such basic parts of Mormon culture that it shows an extreme lack of research or attention to detail on the part of the producers. I don't recall now the accuracy of other parts of the story - and others have commented on those things, but I was very disappointed in the lack of attention to basic things about Mormon culture.
Linda Ann Sheldon - July 6, 2020 Monday
I didn't realize until researching Amber a few years ago that that had been her. She did very very well. The film had horrible costuming however. The actress playing Elizabeth's mom was wearing sleeveless tops which an active Mormon mom would never do. And the set people were so stupid that someone else had to step in I heard and take the coffee cups off of the table.
More stuff - August 10, 2021 Tuesday
I was finally able to see this last night when I found the dvd at my local library.
The things I said before about not getting it about LDS culture still hold true. They didn't get it about the clothing. The church that the family came out of was obviously not an LDS church. The blessing on the food with them holding hands was not the way LDS members give blessings on the food - we just fold our arms and bow our heads as we do in a regular prayer. They did surprisingly get right how family prayer in more observant families is done - kneeling with arms folded, heads bowed, and eyes closed. The wording that the father used in the prayer was surprisingly accurate. (It made me wonder if Amber who never talks about being religious in her regular life was affected by it at all - oh wait that was the actress who played her little sister who looked just like her.)
The posters, search, etc. Were surprisingly accurate. The story was surprisingly accurate. The left out the more traumatic aspects of Elizabeth's story, but understandable so.
One disconcerting odd thing was the actor playing Emmanuel/ Brian David Mitchell looked surprisingly just like the real Ed Smart when shown clean shaven and esp. When shown in the drawing. It seems like it would have made more sense for him to have played Ed Smart and esp. Since it was weird that he looked like Ed Smart.
Amber did amazing. Most actors have mannerisms that they keep when going role to role. I kept watching her to see if I saw in any of her mannerisms any of "Amy Fleming" or any of herself as I have seen her in many videos on line, and other than maybe maybe maybe something that I saw at one point her doing with her mouth I didn't see anything. I more or less forgot that it was Amber - and didn't at all confuse her with "Amy" - and just saw her as Elizabeth. She did play Elizabeth though as a bit more outspoken though and not as soft speaking as the regular Elizabeth.
All in all I thought that it was good job. The actress playing Lois was believable and appearance just enough like the real Lois. The actor playing Ed Smart seemed like an odd choice to me - esp. Bec. Of the above reasons. The kids were phenomenally cast - the older brother - very realistically, and the girl playing the younger sister was phenomenal. Brian David Mitchell as I said, looked too much like the real Ed Smart. The actress playing Wanda Barzee generated just the right amount of sympathy combined with creepiness.
I wish that they would have shot in Salt Lake instead of Halifax. The places looked similar enough, but it was still weird to not see the real Salt Lake.
For an obviously quickly put together effort to get on air while the story was still hot I was actually very surprised at how good that it was. If you want an al be it somewhat simplistic telling of the story, check it out. It appears that it maybe wasn't sanctioned by the family. They did a good enough job on it that it surprises me a bit.
