Hostage (1992): Cast & Plot

This film offers a sober, expansive dramatization of the Beirut hostage crisis, blending documentary-style news clips with the intimate, grueling experiences of the captives. It opens by grounding the viewer in the real-world turmoil: bombings and attacks ripple through Beirut, and the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 is laid bare through archival footage. Into this tense backdrop, a reporter named John McCarthy finishes a story about Brian Keenan, an Irish lecturer who had already been kidnapped in Beirut days earlier. The narrative tightens as McCarthy becomes a target himself—en route to Beirut Airport, his car is halted, he is identified as a British national, and he is forcibly removed, blindfolded and confined.