Release date: 2009

A confrontational look at the trafficking industry reaching monumental proportion, Taken is more than a vivid depiction of our sin-drenched world. It’s a movie to reclaim the heart of fathers. Viewers must be cautioned—the movie’s portrayal of the sex-trade is visual and Bryan Mill’s (Liam Neeson) retribution violent, but its message offers much for consideration.

Demonstrating the complexities of parenting amidst a divorce situation, Taken portrays a biological father who has mistakenly allowed his job to overshadow his family. When the damage seems irreparable, Mills makes the difficult decision to retire from his CIA position to move closer to his daughter who is maturing quickly toward adulthood. Though he fumbles to find relational ground, he remains persistent in his belief that she needs him.

Angry at her own losses through the years, his ex-wife, Lenore, makes his task more difficult as she seeks to be more friend than mother to their daughter, Kim. Now remarried, her life represents everything Mills couldn’t give her—status, position, presence. Their conflict comes to a head when Kim wants to travel with a friend to Paris.  Going against his better judgment, Bryan relents to his daughter’s and ex-wife’s wishes, and the loss is far greater than any of them could have anticipated.

Landing in Paris, Kim and her friend naively engage in conversation with a man trained to spot female targets for the sex-trade industry. They mistakenly believe that if a guy is cute and acts sweet, he must be safe. When he later leads a group of men to the apartment where the girls are staying, Kim and her friend are taken. Her father has only 96 hours to find her.

At the core of the movie, though, is a message with which every person can connect—a father who will stop at nothing to reclaim his child (John 3:16).

Although some of the violence may seem purely vindictive, in light of the fact that the men involved in taking the girls will continue as long as there is money to be made, the message becomes more about destroying evil than personal vengeance. When all is said and done, however, the movie begs the question: How many girls taken into the sex-trade have fathers who are retired CIA agents?

Sexual exploitation—at home and abroad—remains a formidable force in the struggle for justice and truth. And while we must awaken to the gross injustices in our world, we cannot ignore the little foxes that spoil the vine. Innocence is easily lost and difficult to regain.

In today’s world of busy and disinterested parents, the faithfulness of a father’s heart resounds. Longing for protection and living in the shadow of a relationship, daughters can be taken without ever leaving home. Why does it take the underworld of prostitution to send a message? Girls need their parents to be parents.