A chilling indication that things are not what they first seem to be in Mikeal Burgin and Okapi Pictures'short film "Special" comes early in a police interview of the distressed parents of a young girl who has disappeared - when the child's mother (in an excellent portrayal by Rachel Wells) reacts to the routine procedural question about whether either parent knows of anyone who would want to hurt their daughter. In one quick look at her face, we know that something complex is going on, and the interviewing detectives are themselves baffled. They can't bring themselves to suspect the parents of involvement in the disappearance, but they can't shake the notion that there is a mystery somewhere that the parents are keeping to themselves. When we meet the kidnapped child - Kaylynn Burgin, displaying a stunning range in only a few minutes of screen time - our heart can't help but go out to her, fragile, bound and blind- folded, in the hands of human traffickers, one of whom, menacingly played by Jeb Makula, hints to the ringleader that he might want to hold some of the stock back for his own amusement. Puzzled police, distraught parents, a vulnerable girl held captive by heartless, venial captors - it's a dire situation. And the longer the parents shield their family secret, the worse it will be. For someone.
