The 1988 film starring Natasha Richardson and Ving Rhames, directed by Paul Schrader, based on the real life events surrounding the kidnapping and indoctrination of newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), and Hearst's subsequent joining of that group. It is based on Hearst's own autobiographical account of the events.
This film provides examples of:
- Affably Evil: Wendy.
- Bank Robbery: Several times, with Hearst involved. Implied to be the SLA's primary source of funding.
- Damsel in Distress: Averted. The movie (save one brief expository scene near the end) presents Patricia's point of view exclusively, and the SLA allowed her (and, therefore, us) access only to news that suggested there was no real effort to rescue her.
- Dark Messiah: Cinque.
- Dramatization
- External Combustion: The SLA bombed a police car at one point.note
- La Résistance: How the SLA thought of themselves.
- Outlaw Couple: Teko and Yolanda.
- Potty Failure: Patricia wets herself when she's finally found and arrested.
- Scary Black Man: Cinque.
- The '70s
- Sinister Silhouettes: The SLA members appear this way to Hearst while she is kept in the closet.
- Stockholm Syndrome
