"You furnish the pictures, I'll furnish the war" wrote U.S. newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, to a Havana based correspondent in 1898. Said pictures were of the burning wreckage of an anchored & manned U.S.S. 'Maine' (blown to bits in a false flag terrorist attack allegedly carried out by the U.S. government, but blamed on Spain). Said war, was the Rothschild backed U.S. invasion of Spanish colonial territories that followed, with Hearst & others using the 'Maine' incident to propagandise & manufacture consent for a new imperial era that would culminate in World War I. 76 years later, another member of the Hearst lineage would be in the spotlight; not for spinning the news, but for being the news: In 1974, WRH's granddaughter; Patricia Campbell Hearst, 19, was taken hostage by radical members of the California based 'Symbionese Liberation Army' to be ransomed in exchange for their imprisoned comrades. Held for three months, the teenage heiress went native: adopting the mores of her captors, later seen on film committing an armed robbery in full paramilitary garb and revolutionary's beret. The late / great Natasha Richardson puts in a powerhouse performance as precocious Patty Hearst in Paul Schrader's compelling, if one note, biopic. 'Patty Hearst' isn't so much a dramatisation as it is an unabashed whitewash that vindicates the young woman of any and all personal responsibility whilst also making her out to be little more than a vacuous, insipid socialite who barely deserves our attention much less an entire film devoted to her exploits. Master screenwriter Paul Schrader ('Raging Bull', 'Taxi Driver', 'Bringing Out The Dead') directs, taking Patty's word (or at least her lawyer's word if you get my drift) as gospel, refreshing in his absolute and unwavering devotion to one side of the story. Maybe 'The SLA' were all a bunch of delusional fanatics, for if that's the tale that cut Patty's jail term, got her a presidential pardon (it always pays to be wealthier than the president) and a none too shabby movie career with oddball auteur John Waters, then it must be true. For her part, Natasha Richardson plays it straight down the middle with a complex and instantly believable performance that seems to belong in a better film. Her scenes in captivity convey pure fear, panic and a disorientating intensity which ensures that we never lose sympathy for the titular teen, but nor do we ever feel that's she's in any real danger once 'The SLA' (depicted in a hapless, almost comedic, manner) are revealed. It's this narrative ambivalence that creates an atmosphere of detachment and frustration as Schrader, for all intents and purposes, makes 'Heart Of Darkness' meets 'Ruthless People'. Patty, the quintessential fish out of water or Gale Benson-esque innocent, is despised and cherished by Schrader's cinematic eye; her odd couple tag-team with imposing 'SLA' leader Cinque (Ving Rhames) providing the film's one & only scene of humour. Vilified for being an apathetic, over privileged blank canvas is perhaps too harsh a criticism to bestow upon any feckless teen, irrespective of how extraordinary their life may be whilst its just plain wrong to regard Patty's fate as some kind of Karmic comeuppance for the sins of her bloodline. And yet, ultimately, we're none the wiser about Patty Hearst's real motivations or how they were affected by the mood of the times. Schrader's depiction of urban guerrillas 'The SLA' is equally absurd; their left wing rhetoric given little time beyond a few out-of-context sound bites which border on self-parody (look out for William Forsythe's brilliant, if highly implausible, turn as a self hating white man). Eminently watchable, 'Patty Hearst' just manages to stay on the right side of frustration, held together by an excellent, captivating turn by Natasha Richardson and strong support from Ving Rhames, Olivia Barash & William Forsythe.