An American Crime (2007) - Movie Review

[WillRiker]

Movie Title: An American Crime

Director: Tommy O'Haver

Rated: Sweden:15 | Germany:16 | USA:R

Genre: Drama

Runtime: 92 min

Viewed: Sitting in my chair in front of the TV

Trailer:

MTW presents yet another YouTube - An American Crime video

Synopsis: The true story of suburban housewife Gertrude Baniszewski, who kept a teenage girl locked in the basement of her Indiana home during the 1960s.

Opinion: This is a movie I've wanted to see since last December after I watched Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door which I reviewed here.

This is somewhat different to that movie however, as it was only a story that was loosely based on the real events, whereas this movie is actually based on the court transcripts.

The acting was top notch in this movie with the main two performances coming from Oscar winner Catherine Keener as the seriously disturbed Gertrude Baniszewski and Oscar nominee Ellen Page as Sylvia Likens. I don't think I've watched a movie yet that had Ellen Page in it that I haven't enjoyed....although maybe enjoy isn't quite the right word for this one.

It's hard hitting in it's brutality, which is all the harder to get your head around when you consider what is being portrayed on the screen actually happened in real life...but it's a film you can't turn away from, kinda like the "car crash" principle, you know it's wrong to stop and stare, but you do it anyway.

The only thing that disappointed me about the movie was that the film-makers still held back. If you're going to present a movie as a true story and tell what really happened, then tell us what really happened. For example, in the real life case, Gertrude used to kick Sylvia in the crotch on numerous occasions to the point that her pelvic bone was shattered...just stop and think about that for a second......it just goes to prove that mankind itself is a far greater monster than anything our imaginations could conjure up. That is merely one of the indignities that Sylvia suffered that were totally omitted from this movie.

Despite that though it is a damn good film has a definite 1960's feel to it which is to the credit of the film-makers, but on the flip side of that they seem to want to portray Gertrude as somewhat sympathetic, like it wasn't her fault, which I couldn't get on board with....anyone that could do what she did to another human being doesn't deserve any sympathy at all, no matter what her personal circumstances were at the time. It's as if they're trying to tell us that for reasons of poverty, frustration and fear of society's judgment of her children, she was driven to commit this horrific crime.

It seems as if the director was trying to avoid the sensationalist aspects of his story, but if you read the accounts of what ACTUALLY happened in this case, you will find this movie to be quite a dulled down version...which when you think about it is even more horrific.

It's probably not a movie that is suited to everyone and no doubt it's hard to watch, but it's an important story that really should be told because it really happened and I have no doubt is still happening to this very day, some 40+ years later, to kids around the world.

I definitely recommend watching it.

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