Movie Review: Amber: The Girl Behind The Alert

A+picture+depicting+Amber+Hagerman%2C+the+girl+who+suddenly+went+missing+in+1996.

Shyla Brown

A picture depicting Amber Hagerman, the girl who suddenly went missing in 1996.

Amber Hagerman went missing in 1996 at the age of 9. Her and her brother had been riding their bikes around their grandparents neighborhood. When the kids got to the abandoned parking lot her brother turned to go back to the house because he knew the kids weren’t allowed to go there. Amber said she’d be right behind him. She never was. Her brother returned back to the house to alert his grandfather who went to search for her; all they found was her bike. Amber was gone.

The documentary takes you through Amber’s final months. What makes this documentary unique is the fact that they have actual footage of Amber and her family up to her disappearance. Amber’s mother agreed to film a documentary about being a single mom and her day to day life and struggles. In the end this ended up helping them because, instead of posting a grainy picture of Amber, they had home videos to broadcast on the news. The documentary is chilling as you see how frantic Amber’s family, law enforcement, and the community searched for her. The one thing that was out against them was time.

In the ’90s, when a child went missing, the quickest way to alert the community and surrounding areas was the news. In Amber’s case, the 6 o’clock news was their quickest way to get information out. This was almost 2 hours after her disappearance. Two hours too late. Amber Hagerman’s body was recovered but her killer never was found. If there had been a more quick, efficient way to get information out, Amber may be alive today. Because of Amber’s kidnapping and murder, the Amber Alert was created. This is a quick way to get information out about a child’s kidnapping in hopes of finding children alive and bringing them back home safely.

Overall, this documentary was well made. It really shines light on how important it is to get information out quickly. Unfortunately for Amber this wasn’t possible. It was sad, but yet informing on how the Amber Alert came to be. I would rate this film a 5/5.