Who Took Johnny (2014)

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

In 1982, missing children reports were so rare, that often times the local authorities didn't take them seriously. Most of these kids were considered runaways, as authorities at the time couldn't even fathom the depths of depravity that some people are capable of sinking to. In the case of Johnny Gosch, not only wasn't he a runaway, the compelling documentary, Who Took Johnny?, and the subsequent books by his mother, Noreen, have shown that not only may Johnny still be alive 35 years later, but he may have suffered more torture than anyone in the history of this planet. On September 5, 1982, Johnny Gosch, a local paperboy was abducted from Des Moines, Iowa. Despite eyewitness statements, the local police, considered him to be a runaway. Over the years evidence and even a witness go to the FBI to say that Johnny was used for human trafficking. Pictures have turned up and even his mother claims, Johnny stopped by the house for a brief time, 15 years after he'd disappeared. The documentary shows how the local authorities, didn't care and mishandled the case right from the very beginning, and how the FBI kept the family completely in the dark. To this day, despite the fact that her son could be god-knows-where, Noreen Gosch has become an outspoken defender for missing children and the rights of their parents. There is no doubt that this documentary is anything but unbiased and impartial, and while I'm not sure I believe everything Mrs. Gosch says, when taken as a whole, one can't ignore everything that happened in this case. The other side of this gave blanket statements or declined to be interviewed, which tells me, she's right about more than a few things, and even if a third of this is true, it's appalling. When catastrophe strikes, we rely on those in power to take care of us and make things right, but what happens if they just don't want to? This documentary is truly eye-opening and provides plenty of ammunition to victims rights advocates.

A very superficial treatment of the ongoing horror which is systemic, international, high level kidnapping, pedophilia and blackmail used as a tool of political control. This is what happens to congressional freshmen after they move to Washington.If you want to know what this case is really about, see the book "The Franklin Cover-up" by John DeCamp, a Nebraska state senator who was on the Nebraska senate investigative committee, and the documentary "Conspiracy of Silence" produced by Discovery Channel and Yorkshire TV. Also search forFranklin Cover-up: The White House Call Boy Ring thought crime radio

I lived in DesMoines at the time Johnny Gosch and Eugene Martin were abducted. I worked in close association with the local media at the time. When viewed today, it seems impossible for anyone to understand how dismissive the authorities and the public could be in regard to child exploitation. This film is a very true portrayal of the injustice that was done to Johnny and all missing children and how Maureen was vilified for speaking out about it on behalf of her son. This is an amazing story of how John Walsh and Noreen Gosch were strong enough and dedicated enough to turn a horrific personal tragedy into a crusade to protect all children so we as humans will finally put a stop to child sexual abuse and human trafficking.

This is a powerful piece of work from the RUMUR team of Michael Galinsky and Suki Hawley. Anyone with and even probably without kids can identify with the abject terror of having your child disappear without a trace, so it is utterly wrenching to watch people to whom this has actually happened try to figure out how to come to terms with the most profound loss we can imagine. To compound the horror of it all, the film documents with a pretty high degree of confidence what most likely happened to Johnny Gosch: that he was swept up into human trafficking, which more or less means child prostitution and pornography. It ain't pretty, but that's why it is almost necessary viewing. As Gogol so famously said, we can't blame the mirror if our mug is crooked, and "Who Took Johnny" is a mirror that, sad to say, is much less distortive than we would all like for it to be. Watch it.