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Austrian cellar victim raped and starved in film
Source: Agencies |
February 27, 2013, Wednesday
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A new film based on the story of Austrian kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch shows her being repeatedly raped by the captor who beat and starved her during the eight-and-a-half years that he kept her in a cellar beneath his house.
Kampusch was snatched on her way to school at the age of 10 by Wolfgang Priklopil and held in a windowless cell under his garage near Vienna until she escaped in 2006, causing a sensation in Austria and abroad. Priklopil committed suicide.
Kampusch had always refused to respond to claims that she had had sex with Priklopil, but in a German television interview on her 25th birthday last week said she had decided to reveal the truth because it had leaked out from police files.
The film, "3,096 Days" based on Kampusch's autobiography of the same name, soberly portrays her captivity in a windowless cellar less than 6 square meters in area, often deprived of food for days at a time.
The emaciated Kampusch, who weighed just 38kg at one point in 2004, keeps a diary written on toilet paper concealed in a box.
One entry reads: "At least 60 blows in the face. Ten to 15 nausea-inducing fist blows to the head. One strike with the fist with full weight to my right ear."
The movie shows occasional moments that approach tenderness, such as when Priklopil presents her with a cake for her 18th birthday or buys her a dress as a gift, but then immediately goes on to chide her for not knowing how to waltz with him.
Antonia Campbell-Hughes, who plays the teenaged Kampusch, said she had tried to portray "the strength of someone's soul, the ability of people to survive ... but also the grey areas within a relationship that people don't necessarily understand."
The British actress said she had not met Kampusch during the making of the film or since. "It was a very isolated time, it was a bubble of time, and I wanted to keep that very focused," she said as she arrived for the Vienna premiere.
Kampusch herself attended the premiere on Monday.
In an interview with Germany's Bild Zeitung last week, she said: "Yes, I did recognise myself, although the reality was even worse. But one can't really show that in the cinema, since it wasn't supposed to be a horror film."
The film goes on general release tomorrow.
Kampusch was snatched on her way to school at the age of 10 by Wolfgang Priklopil and held in a windowless cell under his garage near Vienna until she escaped in 2006, causing a sensation in Austria and abroad. Priklopil committed suicide.
Kampusch had always refused to respond to claims that she had had sex with Priklopil, but in a German television interview on her 25th birthday last week said she had decided to reveal the truth because it had leaked out from police files.
The film, "3,096 Days" based on Kampusch's autobiography of the same name, soberly portrays her captivity in a windowless cellar less than 6 square meters in area, often deprived of food for days at a time.
The emaciated Kampusch, who weighed just 38kg at one point in 2004, keeps a diary written on toilet paper concealed in a box.
One entry reads: "At least 60 blows in the face. Ten to 15 nausea-inducing fist blows to the head. One strike with the fist with full weight to my right ear."
The movie shows occasional moments that approach tenderness, such as when Priklopil presents her with a cake for her 18th birthday or buys her a dress as a gift, but then immediately goes on to chide her for not knowing how to waltz with him.
Antonia Campbell-Hughes, who plays the teenaged Kampusch, said she had tried to portray "the strength of someone's soul, the ability of people to survive ... but also the grey areas within a relationship that people don't necessarily understand."
The British actress said she had not met Kampusch during the making of the film or since. "It was a very isolated time, it was a bubble of time, and I wanted to keep that very focused," she said as she arrived for the Vienna premiere.
Kampusch herself attended the premiere on Monday.
In an interview with Germany's Bild Zeitung last week, she said: "Yes, I did recognise myself, although the reality was even worse. But one can't really show that in the cinema, since it wasn't supposed to be a horror film."
The film goes on general release tomorrow.
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