a movie inspired by a true story that you don’t want to know

The real-life case that inspired The Orphan is much darker than fiction

In the world of cinema, stories based on real events abound. Just take a look at the perfect horror movies according to Rotten Tomatoes to discover that they hide truly terrifying cases. The script created by David Leslie Johnson and Alex Mace for The orphan is inspired by Barbabora Skrlova, a woman who managed to evade justice under the guise of a 13-year-old boy.

What is The Orphan about?

This sweet girl is not who she says she is

The film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra presents the pain that a couple goes through after the loss of their third child, an experience that leads them to make the decision to adopt Esther. a 9 year old Russian girl who is not what she seems. Behind her angelic and innocent face, hides Leena Klammer, a serial killer from Estonia, who has managed to evade her crimes thanks to the disease called hypopituitarism.

The idea of ​​a 33-year-old woman posing as an infant to cover up at least seven murders sounds like the kind of fantasy that Hollywood usually offers in the best horror movies of 2024. However, it didn’t just happen in real life , but it is a much more chilling case compared to what appears on the screen.

The orphan this inspired by the life of Barbora Skrlovawho, thanks to her ability to lie and manipulate, was welcomed into Klara Mauerova’s home pretending to be a 12-year-old girl named Annika.

How accurate is the story of The Orphan to that of Barbora Skrlova?

Like Esther in The orphan, Barbora Skrlova was born with hypopituitarism, a rare condition of the pituitary gland that compromises proper growth, thus, she was able to appear to be a girl. In reality and in fiction, They present themselves as victims of a violent homethe difference is that Klara Mauerova was a single mother of two children and lived with her sister Katerina, while the film shows an established couple without children.

However, the plot created does not compare to real terror. Once adopted, Annika claimed to be sick, but she only allowed her aunt to take her to the doctor. This was because both were part of The Grail Movementa cult of German origin of which Skrlova’s father was head in the Czech branch.

In this way, supported by the false created, He dedicated himself to encouraging the child abuse of his brothers. To do this, he convinced Klara that the root of her problems was her two children and she should abuse them.

Excessive acts of cruelty impossible to bring to the world of cinema

A plot inspired by an unfortunate real-life story

According to the investigations, little Ondrej and Jakub, aged 8 and 10, respectively, suffered different types of abuse. Sometimes, They were locked up and chained in the basementalways gagged to prevent anyone from hearing their possible calls for help.

Other times the torture included keeping them captive in cages or handcuffed to a table for periods of time long enough for them to stand in their own urine.

The torture not only came from the heartless mother, but also Katerina and Barbora Skrlova had active participation in the abuse, both used to whip them with belts and try to drown them. Likewise, they put out lit cigarettes on the naked skin of the infants.

Unfortunately, the cruelty does not end there, they were forced to self-flagellate using knives and suffered sexual assault. These criminal minds They devoured the flesh of young Ondrej after partially skinning it.

These nefarious acts were discovered thanks to a nearby neighbor, who installed the same type of surveillance system that Klara had acquired to enjoy watching her children’s pain from the kitchen. Given the confusion of the signals emitted by the equipment, the man notified the police, who went to the scene and freed the children, including Annika. In this way, Skrlova’s ruse allowed her to be confined in an orphanage from which she fled shortly after.

The investigations continued and Skrlova’s identity was revealed, beginning a manhunt process. Unfortunately, thanks to the collaboration of a couple involved with the sect, she allowed him to use the passport of her son Adam to facilitate her entry to Denmark and, later, to Norway, where She was captured and extradited to Czechoslovakia for his trial.

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