Have you ever noticed that when you Google something, it appears in an ad in your Facebook feed and other places online. So I was not too surprised that Netflix recommended Natascha Kampusch: The Whole Story, which was not in my queue. Based on my book reading and tv habits, Netflix has probably figured out my interest in the survival stories of women being held in captivity in the twenty-first century. Because it is a tv documentary, it was not that long (only 51 minutes) so I watched it immediately.
Natascha Kampusch: The Whole Story primarily focuses on the Austrian titular survivor, but also interviews the perp’s work colleague and her mother and shows some archival footage from the time. Because the tv documentary was made only a few years after she was released, it does not go into the details of her eight years in captivity as I have read that her book does, but probes her internal struggle to retain autonomy in a world controlled by a stranger and reflects on her psychological profile of her captor.
Natascha Kampusch: The Whole Story shares one significant detail with Jaycee Dugard’s story. Their abusers put them to work, and financial benefited from their captivity. I have never understood how people could rationalize how slavery could not be all bad when we have numerous examples of how horrifying it is today, but perhaps people fail to see the connection between pedophiles and their ancestors.
Just because it is a TV documentary, don’t expect that Natascha Kampusch: The Whole Story will be the Austrian equivalent of Diane Sawyer to appear on your screen or the gauzy Vaseline greased lens focusing on the survivor walking outdoors looking wistfully in the distance. Kampusch was disgusted by the prurient interest of others in her ordeal, and the interviews are conducted in a studio with no visible interviewer.
Natascha Kampusch: The Whole Story is not a must see documentary, but if you are interested in how she managed to survive, it offers an insightful reflection on the human will.