Plot summary (with possible spoilers): The 2005 disappearance of high school senior Natalee Holloway on the last night of her class trip to Aruba was a story that gripped the nation — mostly because the news networks latched on and simply wouldn’t let go. Every day and night, the Natalee Holloway story received tons of coverage and led to numerous theories about what might have happened to the nice-looking blonde girl who was headed to the University of Alabama on a full scholarship. But speculation is all anyone has, even four years later, as Holloway’s body has never been recovered.
This movie from Lifetime Movie Network didn’t clear up any details or provide new theories about what might have happened. Instead, it served more or less as a recap of the major events of the case up to the time that the story finally fell out of the daily news cycle. Tracy Pollan stars as Beth Twitty, Natalee’s mom and the woman who tirelessly served as Natalee’s spokesperson throughout the immediate aftermath of the girl’s disappearance. One of the reasons the story remained prominent was that Twitty simply wouldn’t let it die.
The film begins just days before the fateful class trip to Aruba. Viewers are introduced to Natalee (played by Amy Gumenick), who seems like a normal teen. She liked boys but wasn’t a slut, wanted to party in Aruba, but wasn’t a regular drug or alcohol user. On the surface, she seemed responsible and capable of looking out for herself.
But things changed in Aruba, where the legal drinking age is just 18. On the final night of the 3-day trip, Natalee was drinking at a bar with some friends from school. There she met Joran Van Der Sloot (Jacques Strydom), a Dutch national who lived in Aruba but pretended to be a tourist so he could pick up girls more easily. Natalee ended up leaving the bar with Van Der Sloot and his friends the Kalpoe brothers, which would be the last time anyone saw her alive.
The film goes through a couple of scenarios that might have happened with Van Der Sloot, all based on statements he subsequently made to police, investigators, and interviewers. As with most of the news stories, this film focused squarely on Van Der Sloot as the most likely suspect, and didn’t entertain any other possibilities. The film implies that Van Der Sloot wanted to have sex with Natalee on a beach, but then freaked out when she started convulsing. Thinking she was dead, Van Der Sloot disposed of the body in the Caribbean. That, at any rate, is the story that Beth Twitty believes. No one has ever been charged with a crime in connection with the Holloway case.
My Reaction: I thought the movie was decent enough. I really liked Tracy Pollan’s performance here, particularly since I hadn’t seen her in anything since Family Ties and was taken back down memory lane for a bit. Grant Show seemed miscast as Natalee’s stepfather, particularly since he looks so different from the real guy, but whatever. At least he wasn’t in too many scenes.
I was hoping the film would try to present some new information or at least a fresh take on what might have happened, but they didn’t go there at all. The few scenes of Jordan and Natalee on the beach didn’t really count, as most people already figured that to be the case anyway. And sure, if there’s no new information, there’s no new information. But still… it seems like something more should have been done here.
Overall, Natalee Holloway is a nice refresher course on the case, especially if you sympathize with the mother Beth. After all, it’s based on her book, so it portrays her in a favorable light that is probably not completely deserved, as her public persona was much more volatile than what was captured in the film. Nevertheless, this movie is watchable — and as enjoyable as a film covering this subject can be. I give it 3 stars out of 5.