I am not from Ecuador, so cannot speak about its history, country or people, but I can tell you about this film and (US) films and programmes in general. If you want to a story and to get a feel of what happened to the Chase family, then it's worth the watch. This is a dramatisation of a story that actually happened, it will not be completely accurate if you want accuracy, but you get a good sense of what happened.Sandra Chase was in a prison and if you know anything about prisons, most prisons are not pleasant places to be in no MATTER what country they are in. All prisons have their own rules. The warden and guards rules and then the prisoners' rules. I don't think she was in a minimum security prison either. She was not in the West as well and it was in the 1990s, where South American countries were seriously trying to reform the judicial system. So prisons were probably no bed of roses. Prisons are not supposed to be holiday camps after all. I wrote a whole long list of programmes and films to explain this going back to Birth of a Nation (1915) to World Trade Center (2006) as examples of how film makers manipulated things and many films in between (this information was removed as it may have contained spoilers and makes this review even longer); but basically stories can be added to or characters added for dramatic effect and even changed; even though historians, focus groups, action groups, individuals and more object to the unrealistic portrayals. This has always been done and always will be done most likely, by American TV & film makers as well as others. As for things like the prison scenes, they were tame in my opinion from most other film and TV shows. So, back to the story, here is where a previous poster did no one any favours by not watching the film till the end. Some of it addressing what was said in another review. At the end of the film are two important pieces of information including a history changing one which is probably why this film was made in the first place! One shows you exactly what the film has done with one of the actors (and the real people), if you look out for it, dramatic licence used in this case and another about an important fact. But the film makers are not there to tell the finer details, they are there to tell a story! If you want a true pure film and story, you best never watch a film or TV series again (as they will all have things added or taken away), unless it's a history programme, documentary or the news. This film told a story and you get to see it. It's a drama after all and if nothing else, it should teach everyone, to really know who they are travelling with and always keep an eye on your luggage! I suggest you watch the film for yourself and, to the end, and then make up your own mind!

I've been to places like Ecuador, Puerto Rico, etc. and they are not what is shown in this movie. This movie, while presenting an entertaining and compelling story, portrays the people in the country of Ecuador to be mainly sleazy thieves who lie, cheat and steal. In truth, yes there are people like that in the country, but there are people like that in the States and Canada too, most people there are as nice as anyone here, and by trying to dramatize the film I think this was forgotten. This is based on a true story, but I think it was twisted around a bit to get the ratings of viewers. I am also quite surprised that they would make a movie like this just because a US citizen went through the jail system. It's jail, what, were they expecting jail to have flowers and free stuff everywhere? Of course it's going to seem inhumane, it's a jail, a punishment facility, not a daycare center! While I'm on the subject, how come we make a film about a US woman suffering in an Ecuadorian jail? What's so special about her? What about the harsh treatment immigrants coming to the US get all the time? What makes this woman so special? The acting wasn't very good either, the daughter of the woman was very boring and kind of a ditz.

I am Ecuadorian Citizen and I am very familiar, off course, with how towns look like, as well streets, people, jails, sceneries, laws, etc. The first fake things I watched like towns, music, people, the way people speaks Spanish, the horrendous inner jails world and legal system did move me to a scrutiny attitude; it's like watching a true history happened in the US and filmed in any other country. Americans would notice it immediately. I don't understand why, if the movie is related to a true history happened in Ecuador, why they had to film in a totally different locations? Everything in the "Ecuadorian" environment is Colombian. Perhaps someone could tell me that filming in Ecuador would be very dangerous, but that is not true once more. So it would be very smart and fair that the movie Productors made clear the year that this story happened, because right now at this very moment, Ecuador, a small country but one of the most beautiful in the whole world, is the home of thousands of retired Americans where they live happy. And I don't think they would stay there for 24 hours knowing the "inhumanity chaos" supposedly happening there. It's just to honor the people who suffered this terrible time, Ecuador and us, the spectators.

It's another in the "Americans are never guilty" parade of films. The notion that US citizens are always duped victims in drug smuggling cases is naive at best. While they may not deliberately smuggle drugs in all cases, having worked in travel for many years I can declare that US citizens can be extremely gullible when abroad and equally gullible that "I'm a US citizen" immunizes them from local laws. This is a quite nicely predictable "US citizen unjustly imprisoned" film, and all the predictable people are evil and in league against the poor US citizen. That Americans are naive does not mean they are immune to legal consequences. "I was suckered" is too frequently heard abroad to serve as a defense. And being familiar with Ecuadorian government and law, I can say that they are not exactly the rampant fascists portrayed in this film