Why Are So Many Movies About Kidnappings Right Now?

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It feels like our cinemas are currently filled with movies about hostage situations and kidnappings, but these aren’t your typical action films where a hero like Charles Bronson or Bruce Willis comes to the rescue. These newer films move beyond simple thrills and use the idea of captivity to explore deeper issues. Last year, films like Yorgos Lanthimos’s Bugonia, Gus Van Sant’s Dead Man’s Wire, and Romain Gavras’s Sacrifice all premiered at major film festivals. More recently, Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident won the top prize at Cannes. These films all share a common theme: someone powerless taking control of someone powerful – a story that always grabs our attention, and one that seems particularly relevant right now.

I have to admit, after seeing how the internet and social media haven’t really brought us closer or made things more open – despite what we hoped – it’s incredibly satisfying to watch ordinary people finally challenge those in power. It just feels good to see someone stand up to figures who seem untouchable, even if it’s just a small moment. Honestly, it’s a really powerful feeling, seeing that happen right now. (And tweeting at Elon Musk probably won’t change much, but the idea still resonates!)

These movies are tonally distinct and don’t easily fit into specific genres, but they share a common thread: the audience initially believes the kidnapper is mentally unstable. In Bugonia, Jesse Plemons plays a conspiracy theorist who thinks Emma Stone’s character, a pharmaceutical executive, is an alien experimenting on people – a typical example of someone who’s done their own research online, diving deep into YouTube and the dark web. Dead Man’s Wire is based on a true story about Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgård), an unstable man in Indianapolis who, in 1977, kidnapped his broker, Dick Hall (Dacre Montgomery), hoping to get millions of dollars and an apology from the brokerage firm that he felt cheated him out of a good land deal.

I was really struck by the activists in Sacrifice – they’re incredibly well-organized and actually effective at what they do. But there’s something unsettling about their dedication; it feels like they’re not entirely…stable, mentally. The story kicks off with this group, led by Anya Taylor-Joy’s character Joan, storming a fancy environmental gala and kidnapping three people, including Chris Evans playing Mike Tyler, a somewhat washed-up and self-absorbed movie star. Their plan? To literally sacrifice these three hostages into a volcano, believing it’s the only way to save the planet from total destruction.

The film It Was Just an Accident begins when Vahid, a nervous mechanic who was previously tortured in an Iranian prison, believes he’s spotted the man who tormented him. He confronts the man, identified as Rashid, and seeks confirmation from other former prisoners. However, because no one clearly saw their captor’s face, doubts begin to emerge about Rashid’s identity. Ironically, the most certain of the group is also the most unstable. These makeshift captors are initially an ordinary and often unreliable group, and the director, Panahi, skillfully builds tension by constantly making the audience question whether they have the right person.

These stories all touch on current issues – like conspiracy theories, social justice, unchecked capitalism, and climate change – even though they aren’t always set in the present day. Bugonia is a reimagining of the 2003 Korean film Save the Green Planet!, Dead Man’s Wire is inspired by an event from almost 50 years ago, and It Was Just an Accident originally began as an adaptation of Ariel Dorfman’s 1990 play Death and the Maiden (which Roman Polanski also filmed in 1994). Sacrifice is the only completely original story, penned by Gavras and Pulitzer Prize winner Will Arbery, and its surreal setting on a volcanic Greek island gives it a timeless quality. The series blends references to social media and modern celebrity culture with the striking image of Taylor-Joy’s disciplined rebels, who speak in a uniquely poetic and old-fashioned way.

While each filmmaker—Lanthimos, Van Sant, Gavras, and Panahi—has a distinct style, their films share surprising common ground. Ultimately, all these movies explore the dynamics of power. In Bugonia, we see Stone’s character shift from confident authority, filled with corporate jargon, to frustrated desperation, and finally to a resigned acceptance, all in an attempt to influence Plemons’s unwavering moral compass. The film also reveals the events that brought them to this confrontation, including the casual disregard Stone’s company showed toward his mother. He appears indifferent to her pleas because he has nothing left to lose. She, however, still has everything at stake, and when she too runs out of options, the story takes a final, unexpected twist.

I was really struck by how Dead Man’s Wire shows just how little control anyone truly has, even those who seem powerful. Tony, he thought he could make it as a businessman, but got completely destroyed by a bigger company. And Dick, despite appearing successful, is totally dependent on his father and the family business. That phone call with Dick’s dad – Al Pacino is incredible – really drove home how little he cared about saving his son. It hit me that both these guys are just lost kids of the American Dream – Tony failed within the system, and Dick is literally dependent on his father’s power. The whole hostage situation strips them both down, and it becomes clear where the real power actually lies – definitely not with them. It’s a really unsettling film because of that.

In Sacrifice, the film portrays a movie star, Mike, as deeply anxious and preoccupied with how the public perceives him, a concern he’s struggled with before. Cut off from genuine connection by his fame, he mostly interacts with the world through his phone, living a detached and somewhat unreal life, which makes it difficult for him to take things seriously. (It’s amusingly ironic that he accidentally becomes a hostage of a group of environmental activists.) As the film progresses, though, he starts to genuinely believe in Joan and her unconventional plans to save the Earth from impending disaster. Her journey with him, while wild, provides a real experience with nature – a stark contrast to his life of social media and celebrity. The film’s tone is unique, blending elements of shows like Succession with the epic scope of Apocalypse Now. Mike grapples with the possibility of finding meaning in his life – and even in his death – and despite the film’s increasingly absurd turns, director Gavras maintains a sense of grand satire through striking visuals and moments of broad comedy. Unlike previous films where power shifts between characters or resides in someone else entirely, Sacrifice presents power as a natural force, conveyed not through dialogue or character interactions, but through the film’s sweeping cinematography and powerful music, creating a sense that the gods themselves might be watching and laughing at the events unfolding.

Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, widely considered the best film in its collection, stands out for its realistic portrayal of a complicated situation, despite starting with a somewhat absurd idea. The movie centers on a group of former political prisoners who argue about what to do with a captive named Rashid, and through their discussions, each character reveals their own unique understanding of justice and truth. The film’s themes – guilt, innocence, public opinion, social justice, and mercy – resonate with current issues, which likely explains its popularity with both viewers and critics. The characters lack real authority because they can’t control their circumstances. The captors constantly disagree, leaving them unable to take action, while Rashid is largely powerless, restrained and sedated. The film builds to a tense and potentially unsettling climax where one captor forces Rashid to accept her perspective. While this ending might seem confusing or disappointing, it’s surprisingly powerful and emotionally satisfying. It represents a small triumph – a shared understanding of truth – but within the context of the film, and perhaps even in today’s world, it feels like a significant achievement.

Ultimately, It Was Just an Accident captures a central theme explored across these films: the struggle over defining truth in a world obsessed with power. The films pose questions like: Is Rashid truly a villain? Was Tony Kiritsis unfairly treated? Are extreme actions – even throwing someone into a volcano – justifiable? And what if reality itself is distorted? Beneath the surface, these movies suggest that the real thing being held hostage is objective truth. In a time where everyone seems to have their own version of reality, gaining power, they imply, starts with finding common ground and agreeing on what is actually true.

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2026-02-05 18:55