The book is almost always better than the film and this is no exception. Forget You Had a Daughter is an extremely moving account of Sandra Gregory's conviction and imprisonment for attempting to smuggle three and half ounces of heroin from Bangkok to Tokyo. Banged Up Abroad is the condensed version of the story covering, in detail, only the period up to her imprisonment. The book portrays her as a naive. vulnerable young girl who learns to live with the consequences of her actions, coming out the other side a stronger person. The film, although narrated by Gregory herself leaves the viewer shaking their head wondering how anyone can be so shallow and dumb. It really does not do her justice.
By focusing only on the period up to her imprisonment, there is no opportunity to see how Gregory coped with her time in jail. The film is not therefore about being "banged up", it is about how she ended up in jail. In many ways it is the less interesting half of the story. The presentation does capture the attention, partly Gregory telling her story to the camera, partly a dramatisation of the key events, although at times one wonders whether it might not have worked better as a full reconstruction.
Sandra Gregory as a narrator is refreshingly free of self pity and takes complete responsibility for her actions, unlike many of those interviewed in documentaries of this type. There is no hushed voice-over inviting us to shake our heads in disgust at the savage Thais who treat misguided youths in such a harsh manner. The story is presented in an unemotional and matter of fact way.
Banged Up Abroad is worth a look - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV3JU3zR--o
But if you rreally want to know what happened to Sandra Gregory, buy the book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Forget-You-Had-Daughter-Gregorys/dp/1904132278/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1357490195&sr=1-1-catcorr
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