PATTY HEARST

Members of the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnap publishing magnate heiress Patty Hearst from her Berkeley apartment and take her to their safe house, where she is kept blindfolded in a closet. Her captivity is interrupted by brief lessons in the SLA's teachings and, eventually, offers of sex. She is told by the group's leader, "General Field Marshall" Cinque, that she is being used for bargaining for the release of two captive comrades, an offer eventually refused by the state. In its place, the SLA devise a program for the Hearsts to donate $70 to every poor Californian.

As negotiations begin to break down in this recent attempt, Cinque informs Patty that the War Council has to decide what to do with her. As she is slowly ingratiated in the group, she is given the choice to join or go home, though the latter option is reinforced with a bottle tapping on her leg, a reminder to "join or die".

After undergoing a series of tests, Patty is brought into the SLA as a member and given the name Tania. She poses for pictures with the group and records lines to give to the media while undergoing military drills. The group plans a bank robbery and pick the Hibernia Bank as the site. Though the robbery is successful, Patty is unable to recite her prepared speech.

The group acquires a vehicle from a family of Black Muslim neighbors and move to Los Angeles. While out with Teko and Yolanda, Teko is nearly arrested for stealing and Patty shoots at the police to enable their escape. Hiding out at a motel, the group learn that the SLA's main safe house has been raided and watch the subsequent shootout on television, in which all the members besides themselves are killed.

The trio move to Pennsylvania to stay at the home of SLA member Wendy, who is somewhat disillusioned with the cause following the arrest of a comrade. They meet up with an SLA chapter in San Francisco and continue performing bank robberies and bombing police cars. Teko and Yolanda split from the group in search of a black leader and the apartment is later raided by the FBI, leading to Patty and Wendy's arrest.

Patty's attorney has psychiatrists subject her to a range of probing questions about her captivity. Yolanda, situated in a cell adjacent to Patty's, tells her that they should have killed her a long time ago. In the subsequent trial, Patty is cross-examined and she is found guilty on the charges of bank robbery and using a firearm during the commission of a felony.

Later, Patty is visited by her father in prison, where she tells him of her plan to get her conviction commuted, with hope of a presidential pardon in future. She bitterly muses that, in the eyes of the public, the crime she was truly guilty of was surviving her ordeal.

Patty is arrested after a raid, tried, and found guilty of bank robbery and using a firearm during a felony. She reflects on her ordeal in prison, hoping for a commuted sentence and presidential pardon.

The ending underscores the ambiguity of Patty Hearst’s transformation from captive to participant, as well as the harsh judgment she faces from the legal system and the public. By focusing on her personal reflection and the suggestion that surviving the ordeal is itself her crime, the film interrogates notions of culpability, coercion, and identity under extreme duress. Schrader’s take leaves viewers questioning the line between victim and collaborator.