I Watched Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart On Netflix, And There Is One Moment That Freaked Me More Than Anything Else

While Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart, which you can watch with a Netflix subscription, is a remarkable documentary, it is not an easy watch. In fact, I had to stop it a couple of times and take a break before I finished it. It’s extremely upsetting at times, and certainly among the most painful true crime documentaries I’ve ever watched (and I watch a lot). There was one moment that really freaked me out: when Smart was spotted out at a party with her captors.

I Was Vaguely Aware Of Some Of The Details

I remember when Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped in 2002. Though I lived on the East Coast at the time, and her abduction was in Salt Lake City, it was national news. I didn’t follow the story all that closely, though. I do also remember when she was found, and knew a little bit about the details. Namely, it was some kind of cult or religious kook that was responsible, and that she had been found walking with her captors on the streets of the Utah capital.

Beyond that, I really didn’t know much more about the case until watching this documentary, which landed on the Netflix schedule this week. In some ways, I regret knowing more because it’s significantly more disturbing and distressing being aware of the whole story. Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart is a really hard watch, but it is worth it in the end. However, the moment that I saw the photo and the story behind it was one of the most spine-chilling moments in a crime doc I’ve seen in a long time, perhaps ever.

A Truly Haunting Photo

After Smart was kidnapped, she was held captive in a tent in the woods for weeks before her kidnappers agreed that the three of them needed to go into town (Salt Lake City) to get some food. They ended up at what is described in the movie as a counter-culture party, with both Smart and her female kidnapper clothed from head to toe in something like a hijab and a niqab, covering everything but their eyes.

While at the party, a photo was snapped of Smart and the man being interviewed in the movie, named Jared Parkinson, her main (male) captor. The film focuses on the then 14-year-old’s eyes, and it got my skin crawling. It made everything so real for me, somehow. Until that moment, as I said, I had a hard time getting through some of the harder things to watch and hear in the documentary, but I was locked in after that. It didn’t make it easier to watch, but I had to finish it at that point.

I’m not sure if Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart will get nominated for an Oscar like two Netflix documentaries did last year, but it’s a remarkable film, and I recommend it. Just be warned, it’ll be triggering for some, and at the least a difficult movie to get through.