Biancas Baby

"Baby Snatcher" claims it's based on a true story, and that's probably right. But it doesn't necessarily make for a good film. One of the problems is the casting. Michael Madsen plays the clueless husband. Madsen is the award winning actor famous for such films as Reservoir Dogs (1992), Getaway (1994), Species (1995), Kill Bill (2003), and The Hateful Eight (2015), so his playing against type here is not entirely believable.

Veronica Hamel, on the other hand, is known for her work in the TV series Hill Street Blues (1981-7) and Lost (2004-10), and her desperate scheming wife doesn't seem to fit.

Setting aside the casting issues, the story itself takes a long time to evolve.

This true story was shown on the tv series, Lt. Joe Kendra, Homicide Hunter. He was the detective played by by David Duchovny! It was neat to see it from a detective's point of view!

This film illustrates why the "torn from today's headlines, woman in trouble" genre is such staple for made for TV flicks.

There is nothing particularly exceptional about this film, yet it is very compelling story. Not that the cast, that included some very good actors, are bad. It's just they are not the one's the carry this story. This is a plot driven tale that tugs at the most basic human emotions and there is nothing too subtle about it. The makers of this film were smart enough to tell this story very cleanly and not get in the way.

I saw this movie when I was 13 years old which is when it first came on television here in the States. Even as a child I was horrified that a baby could be kidnapped from a hospital. What makes it horrifying is the fact that most newborns look alike and have no distinguishing characteristics yet. The Two main female characters, the mother and the kidnapper both had dark hair and light eyes. This baby could have passed for either of the women's baby. I agree, the husband was an idiot. Although I was only 13 I did wonder why he never saw her naked in the shower or put his hand on her belly and noticed that something wasn't right. I assumed it didn't fit in the movie. whatever the reason it lost a point for that.

This movie was realistic in the reactions of the characters and what they were going through. The writer even thought to add a line about the mother starting to lose her breast milk. Anyone who has seen The Hand that Rocks The Cradle with Rebecca DeMornay or who is a breastfeeding mom knows why that is such a big deal. It was also very interesting to see Nancy McKeon as a mother in a dramatic role when all I had known of her at the time was Jo from the Facts of Life, now a cult classic. There are a few actors in this movie that later went on to star in blockbuster films like Micheal Madsen and David Duchovny.

Now that I am a mother this movie is even more horrific. With doctors leaving utensils inside their patients after operations it's difficult to remain optimistic about the safety of a newborn in a hospital.

Just a side note, I personally know of several women who learned how to fake a pregnancy based on this movie. That ups the horrifying factor for me quite a bit.

While the theme is something we have seen before on LMN, the story is based on truth , and Nancy McKeon is believable as the victimized mother whose child is stolen by a woman posing as a nanny.

Michael Madsen portrays a military man, tired of his marriage to Veronica Hamel, and tells her he wants out. As an older woman, she panics, her perfect life disrupted, so she decides that a baby will save the marriage. She has problems becoming pregnant, so concocts a scheme: she pretends to be pregnant, wears maternity clothes and pillows to make her husband believe she is indeed pregnant. As he is a man rigid to his obligations, this one fact keeps him in the marriage. He crassly tells her, "My C.O. will not approve if I divorce you know, a pregnant woman".

Nine months pass and, as her husband is blissfully uninterested, Hamel gets away with the initial scheme. Then her husband asks...are't you about due, wherein she again panics, and tries to adopt. When that doesn't work, she advertises for employment as a nanny. As she is well- spoken and educated, she is hired by Nancy McKeon's mother, who believes her to be trustworthy. In the instant she allows Hamel to hold the child, the child is abducted.

McKeon portrays a low-income single mother, and there is a cameo with David Duchovny as the sometime father of the child. The media initially blamed the parents, as in most cases they are immediate suspects. McKeon rises to the occasion, and uses the media to publicize her child's abduction.

The fact that this is a true story serves as a cautionary tale to any new parents, and Veronica Hamel excels here as a desperate and borderline personality who will do anything to save her faltering marriage. 8/10.