''Just Another Missing Kid'' is a 1981 Canadian

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

, directed by

John Zaritsky John Zaritsky (13 July 1943 – 30 March 2022) was a Canadian documentarian/filmmaker. His work has been broadcast in 35 countries and screened at more than 40 film festivals around the world; in 1983, his film ''Just Another Missing Kid'' w ...

, about the search for a missing Ottawa teenager.

Summary

Eric Wilson had left his native

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

in July 1978 in a

Volkswagen camper The Volkswagen Westfalia Camper was a conversion of the Volkswagen Type 2, and then, the Volkswagen Type 2 (T3), sold from the early 1950s to 2003. Volkswagen subcontracted the modifications to the company Westfalia-Werke in Rheda-Wiedenbrück. T ...

on a trip to

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...

. Somewhere in

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

he disappeared. The movie traces how his family and a private investigator work to find out what had happened. The film focuses on how little help the various police forces were and is an indictment of the apathy and bureaucracy of the legal system on both sides of the border. Raymond Hatch and Bertram Davis, hitchhikers Wilson had picked up, eventually confessed to the murder. The long-time criminal and drifter Hatch, who had committed the murder, was sentenced to 26 years in prison, but was released after serving 13. In 1994 he stabbed his girlfriend with a knife and was convicted of assault for which he served 9 months in jail. In a follow-up to the story from 1995, '' the fifth estate'' reported that Hatch had resumed his drifting. He died in 2000.

Accolades

Originally produced by

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

for the documentary news program ''The Fifth Estate'', it was broadcast on CBC television to much acclaim in 1981. It was released in theatres in the United States in 1982. It was nominated for several international awards and won the 1983

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for Best Documentary Feature.

Controversy

In this film, Zaritsky broke new ground for documentaries by having the interview subjects recreate their actions for the camera. This caused some controversy as some critics and filmmakers felt these recreations did not make it a true documentary. In later years Zaritsky himself agreed the technique should not be used. However it has since been widely used by other documentary filmmakers.

Adaptation

The story was later re-told in fictionalized form in a

made-for-television movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

called ''Into Thin Air''. The film starred

Ellen Burstyn Ellen Burstyn (born Edna Rae Gillooly; December 7, 1932) is an American actress. Known for her portrayals of complicated women in dramas, she is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and two Primetime Em ...

as the mother and was aired in 1985.

Preservation

The

Academy Film Archive The Academy Film Archive is part of the Academy Foundation, established in 1944 with the purpose of organizing and overseeing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ educational and cultural activities, including the preservation of m ...

preserved ''Just Another Missing Kid'' in 2007.

References

External links

*
The Fifth Estate online - full streaming video of Just Another Missing Kid
1981 films English-language Canadian films Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners Canadian documentary films Documentary films about children Documentary films about crime in Canada Documentary films about law enforcement in Canada Films directed by John Zaritsky 1981 documentary films Murder in Nebraska 1980s English-language films 1980s Canadian films {{1980s-Canada-documentary-film-stub