Are We Weird to Care?

Yesterday I partially watched Taken in Broad Daylight, starring James Van Der Beek and Sara Canning on Lifetime. I'd seen it before so I wasn't fully focused on it, got up and down and was in the kitchen at the end. But as I stood at the table chopping veggies, I heard crying and turned to see James, as Tony Zappa, crying.

He abducted Anne, played by Sara, and they travel. I forget some of the details, sorry, but he wants to go live in the woods with her. She's smart and savvy, leaving clues along the way. He's not portrayed as anything more than a criminal, having been in prison before. And he assaults her during the film. No one I'd feel sorry for, right?

Well, when he started crying, I did. She, in the pic above, is trying to convince him to surrender to the police, who are outside the cabin. She promises him she'll never leave him. And of course, as any sane and smart person would do, runs like she's on fire as soon as she gets the chance. I get all of that, and I totally agree. I could only wish I'd be half as intelligent as she is if, God forbid, anything like this ever happened to me.

But here's the thing...he'd kidnapped her because he was lonely.

Maybe I'm a softie. Maybe because I know this is fiction. (I didn't realize this was based off an actual event. It doesn't change how I feel about the movie. The real crimes are different, and maybe that's why I'm able to care, because in my mind I differentiate it and am only focusing on what I thought was fiction.) Maybe I'm deranged. But I felt for the guy. Okay, so his methods suck big time, but the poor thing only wanted a partner. Isn't that what most people want? None of this is to say he shouldn't suffer for the pain he caused Anne and her family, but in a warped kinda way, I get it and feel for him.

My daughter did too. So then we had to stop and question ourselves. She said, "Are we weird?" I don't know. Are we?