Natalee Holloway:The Movie 2009 **

I'm not sure how close this film was to the truth and the real reactions of friends and family, but it certainly doesn't portray them in the best light.

Her friends are shown as people who can't look out for their drunk friend as she gets inot a car with 3 men she doesn't know. They also don't seem to put up much of a fight into staying on the island to help look for her the day after. Her chaperone doesn't pay any attention to the panic this is causing everyone and dismisses it as a foolish prank. The mother becomes manical, even breaking the law by speeding to get to the airport, then attacking witnesses and highjacking news reports about her daughter. The Aruba officials seem to have a friendly pact going on with the suspects, feeding them information to cover their tracks before the mother is told, and the suspects themselves are so completely lacklustre and relaxed about the whole thing that you couldn't actually believe people this stupid could be hiding something. Added to which, Natalee is presented as a girl who, despite not being a drinker, goes wild the second she is away from her parents getting drunk constantly and having strange men grope her. She then wanders off with 3 of them to the beach and 'teases' one of them into wanting to have sex.

I don't know this poor girl but I seriously doubt that she was anything like her character here.

I don't think her mother was this unhinged person either that she is being made out to be, and the only reason people seem to have a problem with her is because she made sure everyone knew about her daughter's case, and worked tirelessly to get her message across. I don't doubt however that the police in Aruba where totally corrupt, and I think they tried many times to cover up vital information from Natalee's family which may have ultimately have led to her being found, dead or alive.

Also, at the end of the film, the main suspect is bugged in a car and his "friend" (who is actually an undercover official or news man) gets out information from him, to the extent that he left her unconscious on the beach but didn't know for sure whether she was dead or not. Natalee's mother appeared to take this information at face value and the whole film sort of wrapped up with her announcing that she finally 'had the answers and could move on', despite the fact that the suspect then admitted that he had lied about the story to impress his friend. So nothing is ever concluded and we are no closer to knowing what happened to her. At the time the film was made, no one had been arrested regarding Natalee's disappearance, but fast forward a couple of years, and the main suspect has been charged, as well as being charged with another murder of a girl named Stephany Flores, who was found murdered in her hotel room. That at least, can be some comfort for Natalee's family.