Lifetime
Lifetime’s ‘Ripped from the Headlines’ film series returns full force with Terror Comes Knocking: The Marcela Borges Story, a harrowing tale of kidnapping and extortion in 2009 (although the time isn’t really specified in the movie, but this is a real case easily found online to verify, and has also been the subject of a documentary).
The story focuses on the family of Marcela Borges, a mom who is a few months along in her second pregnancy, her first child Ryan just graduating kindergarten (even though the exterior shots tell us this was clearly filmed in the Autumn months). Her husband, Rubens Morais, works for a shipping company that has had some hard times but is in a recovery period with business picking up. Not long after the graduation party, a knock comes unexpectedly at their door and when Rubens goes to answer, a group of masked intruders enters, demanding $200,000. Marcela and Rubens keep insisting they don’t have that kind of money, but the thieves aren’t taking no for an answer although it’s never clear why they believe the family has that much cash. Both Rubens and Marcela are brutalized and Ryan is separated from his parents, and Marcela has to keep pleading to her captors that she’s pregnant but to no avail. But at one moment the mask covering the face of the female in charge slips off and the pieces begin to fall into place for Rubens, who is certain by that point that he, his wife and son will be executed because they just don’t have the money the thieves believe they have (even after Marcela is forced to go to the bank and withdraw their life savings which is a far cry from $200,000). After being dragged from their home and then brought back, Marcela makes a life or death decision in an effort to save her family.
I’m no fan of home invasion stories like The Visitors, which can be classified under the ‘torture porn’ category as a family is relentlessly terrorized, violently assaulted and left for dead by a group of masked assailants whose motives are never known. Terror Comes Knocking: The Marcela Borges Story almost falls into that category because once the intruders arrive, it is unrelentingly violent as Marcela and Rubens are beaten and battered (Marcela at one point kicked in the stomach even though her assailant knows she’s pregnant). This violence goes on for nearly the entire running time of the movie, and like the family, the viewers are in the dark as to why these people have chosen them and why they believe the family has the amount of money they demand and why they want such a specific amount to begin with. One would think that after they open the safe and force the bank withdrawal, the intruders would see the family does not have $200,000 on hand. I suppose they could force them to sell their house but they want the money right then and there so that’s not feasible. It is just a grim, violent, bloody story that is not a pleasure to sit through.
The fact that it is such a one-note story means that the actors playing the victims don’t have much to do but beg, plead and cry once the violence begins. As this is titled ‘The Marcela Borges Story’, Dascha Polanco is given more to do as the wife and mother willing to do anything to protect her family and unborn child. She gets a few moments to try to be heroic, like attempting to signal police when the family is being transported to a different location, and she does get one rousing moment when she is able to turn the tables on her attacker (with an unfortunately obvious rubber knife — you can see the tip bend if you look closely). Marcela is a victim in this situation, but Polanco gives her some much needed strength to make the viewers root for her. On the other side, Johnathan Sousa’s Rubens isn’t much help, falling apart emotionally as their situation becomes more dire, accepting what he believes is his family’s fate. Young Alessio Andrada is really good as Ryan, showing strength in some terrifying situations and we can only hope he wasn’t traumatized by the experience of making this movie.
The actors playing the assailants all play a type. Marito Lopez’s Miguel has a very short fuse and has no qualms about killing anyone, even a child. Ivan Lopez’s Oscar doesn’t have quite the same hair-trigger as Miguel, but he’s willing to follow any orders given. Mitchell Jaramillo is the one criminal with a conscience, always questioning what they’re doing and definitely not willing to murder a child. Nisa Gunduz is excellent as Bianca, the leader of the group, blindly relentless in her mission to get that money — and unfortunately we are still never really told the reason why and even the reveal of who she is still leaves us with unanswered questions (to which we know the answer now after doing some digging but won’t spoil it here if you haven’t seen the movie). Gunduz is focused and brutal and totally believable, and her portrayal makes it all the more satisfying when Marcela briefly gets the upper hand, making us root for her to finish off Bianca while she has the chance. These actors just make the film all the more harrowing and difficult to watch (as does all the violence and blood).
Terror Comes Knocking: The Marcela Borges Story is a movie for a very specific audience. Lifetime usually caters to a female crowd, but its target audience may find this one a tough pill to swallow. But if you are one who is into home invasion movies, then this one will not disappoint.
Terror Comes Knocking: The Marcela Borges Story has a run time of 1 hour 29 minutes, and is rated TV-14.
Official Trailer | Terror Comes Knocking: The Marcela Borges Story
Lifetime
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