90s TV movie: child, kidnapped, vacation
SolvedR92 -
I'm looking for a TV movie that really stuck with me when I was a child, which was broadcast between 1995 and 1998. I have a few vague memories:
It's about a couple and a child (I'm almost sure it's a boy) who are on vacation or have just moved to a new country. The child gets kidnapped.
I remember that at the end, the child has changed a lot (old clothes, longer hair...) and is thrown from a moving truck.
If anyone could help me find this film
Thank you in advance.
12 réponses
I've got the name of the movie. Drum roll, please...
https://www.filmsquebec.com/films/marchands-du-silence-francois-labonte/
However, I can't seem to find it online. I recognize the film from the summary, but I can't find a video.
The country where the parents are is relatively poor, there is a difference between the rich (tourists or expatriates) and the very poor local population.
At the end of the film, the child is violently thrown from the moving van in the middle of a road, that is what struck me the most.
This film has haunted me for several years and I end up believing that I'm the only one who has seen it! I've scoured the internet without success (so far).
Unfortunately, it is not "They Called Me Steven."
I believe the young boy is "kidnapped" outside his house or hotel in broad daylight while playing with a ball. He was wearing a cap and we find him on the ground unless it's the ball.
The kidnapping might be a local "business" in the country in question and gangs kidnap children to demand a ransom.
Another striking thing is the very particular soundtrack of the film, dramatic music, and sounds that resemble screams (????)
It would be so much simpler if I knew if it's a French, German, or American film.
My memories are very vague.
In those years, I also saw a TV movie about a "rich" child who gets kidnapped in a poor country (somewhere in South or Central America maybe?), but I never finished it because one scene shocked me:
Does the boy get kidnapped along with a few local kids?
And are several children found dead, and the mother briefly believes her son is among them because one of the children is wearing his t-shirt?
It's crazy, I saw this movie as a child in the 90s too; it left a mark on me and has stayed in the back of my mind. Being born in Brazil myself might explain my connection to this film.
In my memories, the child plays soccer with other kids from the country, but it seems like the children are deliberately pushing him away so that he gets kidnapped later on. And at the end, he gets thrown out of a car/van while it's moving. I only remember these two scenes, and yet I think about them often, but I can't find the movie to watch it.
I came across this page because I was looking for exactly the same movies as you. I'm 33 years old and I saw this film as a child, and it has always stuck with me. I still remember the music; I recall it was a little Brazilian boy, I think, and there was a second character who was black with an afro.
In the end, he gets thrown out of a van, he's wearing all tattered clothes, and at the moment he's on the ground, this music starts playing. I even heard someone mention this T-shirt in the previous comments; if I remember correctly, it was a white one with green stripes, LOL. It's crazy that I remember that, but as I said, this movie really left an impression on me.
In fact, it was more of a cap that the mother recognized on one of the guys' heads, it's not a T-shirt LOL, I don't know, I had a flash.
It's this movie that I'm looking for and I can't find it, I really want to watch it, it was so good back then.
The name of the movie is “Give Me Back My Child” but beware, in 1994 there is another film with the same title and a different story. I’m also looking for it but it’s hard to find.
Good luck.
Hello everyone,
Having seen this movie when I was a kid, it traumatized all of us both with its story and its soundtrack.
The film is indeed "Give Me Back My Child," released in 1994 under the name "The Merchants of Silence" by Francis Labonté.
The only downside is that there doesn't seem to be any links or any other way to watch the film again; even on YouTube, there are no corresponding videos, as if no one from this generation has known this beautiful film despite the harsh reality of "poor" countries being hard to bear.
Hello,
It seems to me that the mom sees her son's clothes on a kid from behind, she thinks it's her son, but in fact, it's not him. I believe she turns him around at the end.
I really love this movie, which has profoundly marked me.
I am also looking for the movie's music, maybe by Osvaldo Montes...