AllMovie

In December of 1988, Lorna Henkel, a woman in her late fifties living in Johannesburg, South Africa, answered a knock at her door to find a young man standing at her steps. Moments later, the man burst into Henkel's home, raping and brutally beating her in an attack which left her physically and emotionally scarred beyond repair. In 2003, with the 15th anniversary of the crime looming, Henkel's assailant still remained at large, and Cathy Henkel (Lorna's daughter) took it upon herself to do something about it. With a small film crew in tow, Cathy Henkel launched her own investigation into the attack and discovered a bungled police inquiry, familial discord over the nature of the crime, and a nation gripped by an epidemic of criminal sexual assault. The Man Who Stole My Mother's Face explores the crime that changed Lorna Henkel's life forever and what her daughter learned when she tried to bring the offender to justice. The Man Who Stole My Mother's Face was screened at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival.