Judy Reyes in "Little Girl Lost"
courtesy of Lifetime Movie Network
“Little Girl Lost” (Lifetime Movie Network)

Lifetime is always getting beaten up for having movies that play on our emotions and appeal to our sympathies. There are jokes made about how maudlin and sometimes trivial the content of a Lifetime movie can be. But with “Little Girl Lost” the Lifetime Movie Network presents a film based on a true story and it is a powerful drama.

“Little Girl Lost” tells the actual story of Luce Cuevas (Judy Reyes). She and her husband Pedro (Hector Luis Bustamante) lived in Philadelphia when they became the parents of a baby girl they named Delimar. After her birth they brought her home where she became part of a close family that also included her two brothers.

At Christmas time the family threw a party. It seemed as though everybody they knew and then some more came. Delimar was asleep upstairs but Luce kept a close eye on her. However when a fire broke out she had a hard time fighting the panicked crowd to get to the stairs. When she finally did get to the baby’s room she was overcome by smoke and almost died. The firemen told her Delimar had died in the fire.

Luce however was never convinced Delimar was dead. Even when everyone in her family told her she was crazy, she kept believing. The movie tells of her persistent struggle to find the child everyone thought was dead.

Reyes, who is a regular cast member of the TV series “Scrubs,” is perfectly cast for the role of the determined Luce. Bustamante is also good as Pedro. He is especially convincing in the highly emotional scenes. Ana Ortiz, who is an “Ugly Betty” regular, shines in the role of Valerie, one of Pedro’s distant relatives. A Martinez is handsome and charismatic as Angel Cruz, the politician who believes Luce.

This movie will grab you from its earliest moments and hold you captive for the next hour and a half. It wouldn’t be believable if you didn’t know it is based on a true story. In this case truth is absolutely stranger than fiction.

Make sure you don’t miss this engrossing film, “Little Girl Lost.” It premieres on the Lifetime Movie Network on August 17 at 8PM.
 

 

 

 

 

©2008 Jackie K. Cooper

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