Some of us have family stories that we hear over and over again as we grow up. These tales can center on a quirky aunt or a grandparent with a colorful history. Your stories would pale in comparison to those heard by filmmaker Mimi Wilcox from her grandmother when she was a little girl. In her shortlisted documentary short film, Bad Hostage, Wilcox expertly weaves three true store together even though, on the surface, they appear to have nearly nothing in common.
What would you do if your grandmother told you that she was once taken hostage when she was a young mother? What would your reaction then be if she told you that in the commotion and the fray that she felt entirely uncomfortable with the presence of police? I couldn’t help but wonder how many times Wilcox heard her grandmother, Michaela Madden, describe the events of the ordeal when she let two men into her home in the middle of the night in 1973 after thet shot two deputy sheriffs. Since she didn’t know who they were and she didn’t know what they had done, she assumed she was doing the right thing.
As we are growing accustomed to Michaela’s story, Wilcox invites us to explore two other stories that deal with hostage situations. One is famous, the other less so–at least to some American audiences. Patty Hearst made headlines when she was taken hostage in 1974, and I mentioned to Wilcox how I remembered growing up hearing her name in pop culture. Karen Walker made a comment about her wearing a beret on an episode of Will & Grace, and Hearst even made a cameo in John Waters’ Serial Mom, starring Kathleen Turner. Wilcox also draws parallels to the Norrmalmstorg robbery in Sweden in 1973.
As the drama unfolded in Michaela’s home, she expressed fear in how law enforcement took charge in her home and didn’t seem worried if she or her children would be come collateral damage if violence erupted. ‘I saw them as people who were screwing up their lives,’ she tells her granddaughter in a one-on-one interview. One might assume that a documentary exploring the origins of the term Stockhold Syndrome wouldn’t share that much compassion, but it’s running through the veins of Bad Hostage. Wilcox keeps the pace up but never cuts away from any portion from this trio of stories too quickly. It’s almost as if we are witnessing three pieces of fabric being stitched together.
Bad Hostage feels like taking a family album off the shelf but it never feels dated as Wilcox brings her own memories to this intersection of nonfiction filmmaking. The more she reveals blatant misogyny and judgement hurled at all three of these women, the more we want to explore why our culture is so comfortable with putting women down.
