Man, I’m not even sure how to begin talking about this movie.
A friend emailed me a few weeks ago to recommend it to me, saying it starred Ellen Page and Catherine Keener, two actresses I really like, and that it was extremely well-made and very thought-provoking. And after watching it a few days ago, I can at least say that much: it IS extremely well-made and very thought-provoking.
It’s also disturbing as hell.
This movie is based on a true story (or, more technically, it’s “an interpretation” of court transcripts from an actual trial) that took place in a small town in the late 1960’s. It’s about two teenage girls, Sylvia (Ellen Page) and Jennie (Hayley McFarland) whose parents work for the circus. The parents are about to go on tour for the summer again, and don’t want to drag the girls along with them for the umpteenth time, so when a neighbor of theirs, Gertrude Baniszewski, offers to take them in for $20 a week, they happily agree. Gertrude is the single mother of six kids but, as she says, “What’s two more?” She seems nice. She goes to church. It all seems perfect.
And, at first, it is. Sylvia and Jennie quickly become fast friends with Gertie’s daughters, and it looks like their summer is going to be like a super-long p.j. party o’ fun. But then things get complicated — Gertie’s eldest daughter, Paula, gets pregnant and swears Sylvia to secrecy, but the secret gets out anyway. Only, Paula (Ari Graynor) denies it to her mother and instead tells Gertie that Sylvia’s been making up vicious lies about her. Gertie, self-medicating for “asthma” by sucking down bottles of narcotic cough syrup, chain-smoking, and drinking lots of scotch, starts to buckle under the stress of dealing with eight kids and no money, and it becomes increasingly easy for her to believe that Sylvia is the source of all her problems.
At first, she tries to rectify the issue by punishing Sylvia in a sort-of normal-ish 50’s kind of way — whacking her with a belt, for example. But even though Sylvia is on her best behavior, Gertie’s psychological state eventually completely crashes, and ultimately, Sylvia ends up imprisoned in the basement for weeks.
What happens next is one of the most truly disturbing examples of mob violence I have ever heard tell of. Because it’s not just Gertie who beats on Sylvia — next it’s Gertie’s kids, and after that, it’s the neighbor kids too. Pretty soon, kids of all ages are coming over to Gertie’s house after school for the sole purpose of getting to burn someone with cigarettes and punch her in the face, kick her in the thighs, carve things on her belly with a hot needle, etc. That these kids — some of whom were actually Sylvia’s FRIENDS — were so ready and willing to commit such awful, awful acts of violence just absolutely stunned me. One of them would say, “No, I don’t think I want to,” and the rest of the group would say, “But we’re ALLOWED to. My mom SAID we could! Come on!” And that would be all it took. What the. . .?!
The movie itself is organized quite well, with courtroom scenes from Gertie’s trial (using the actual transcripts for dialogue) intercut with reenactments of Sylvia’s story. We get to see each one of the kids testify, for example, and when asked WHY they went along with the torture, every single one answers, “I don’t know.” Catherine Keener is absolutely brilliant in this — though I’m a bit biased because I worship her. And Ellen Page is extremely effective as well, though her role as victim doesn’t really have much depth to it.
But my god, this movie is almost impossible to watch after a certain point. And that this is true — that this really happened — I just. . . Ugh.
Anyway, is this a good film? I think I would say it is. It’s well-acted, well-paced, and very nicely structured. But would I recommend this film? No way. I wish I could unwatch it myself, quite frankly. I know kids have the capacity for incredible cruelty — but this? I just. . . Ugh.
Ugh.
Ugh, I tell you, ugh.
[Netflix me | Buy me
Genre: Drama
Cast: Ellen Page, Catherine Keener, Hayley McFarland, Ari Graynor, Nick Searcy, Romy Rosemont, Bradley Whitford
Tags: Drama
megwood.wordpress.com 
September 16, 2008 at 9:31 pm |
Meg, I can’t believe you watched that movie?! It sounds horrible, but the cast does sound good.
September 16, 2008 at 9:50 pm |
I didn’t really know what I was getting into until it was far too late to back out. Once you connect with the characters, it’s not like you can just stop caring about how things end up for them, you know? And I didn’t just care about Sylvia — oddly enough, I felt a lot of compassion for Gertie as well. She was clearly a broken person — broken in every way imaginable. I can’t NOT feel some degree of empathy for that.
I’m also glad Sylvia’s story has been told, and I think it’s an important story to tell, too. I’m glad I saw it. But I can’t be all, “MUST-SEE MOVIE OF THE YEAR!” about it.
Though it’s in no way as good a film as Schindler’s List, I will say I feel the same way about it as I did about that one: great movie, never going to watch it again as long as I live.
September 17, 2008 at 9:29 am |
“If you’re going to see only ONE kiddie-torture movie this year…make sure you see An American Crime!”
You guys crack me up.
September 17, 2008 at 11:59 am |
I definitely have a list of “great movie, never going to watch it again as long as I live”. I’d have to give it more thought but I would include “Schindler’s List” and “The Pianist”.
Trip – you should write those advertising blurbs 🙂
September 17, 2008 at 3:00 pm |
Oddly, Ellen Page seems to really like making disturbing movies about kiddie-torture. Though, in “Hard Candy,” it was more like “kiddie-torturer,” I guess, since she was the one doing the torturing.
Trip, I see a future for you in the Hallmark greeting card biz.
September 17, 2008 at 3:29 pm |
Actually, if I had to pick a movie for someone to watch once, appreciate, and then bury deep in the cold, cold ground to prevent further damage to their soul, it’s definitely Requiem for a Dream.
September 17, 2008 at 3:54 pm |
You two are stronger than me. I haven’t been able to make myself watch either “Hard Candy” or “Requiem for a Dream”. I watch plenty of serious movies but those 2 strike me as totally hopeless.
September 19, 2008 at 12:49 pm |
Thank you, thank you, for being a kind of human screening process for us with some of these movies. “An American Crime” sounds quite appalling. I won’t have the courage to see it – I find zombies and other monsters way less disturbing! But, you’re right – the story does need to be told, and heard. But how can one get the word out on something so unpleasant?
Is there a book written on this situation? I could probably tolerate a book more easily than watching a movie. It’s funny – I didn’t think “Schindler’s List” was so excruciating; it seemed more like an important lesson to learn and share, but with a positive feel to it. I was going to see Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ” (I think that was what it was called), but I actually couldn’t get up the nerve! This from an avid fan of horror movies! The thing is, if the subject matter is about real people, and is very cruel and/or violent, I find that much scarier.
I didn’t realize Ellen Page was the lead in “Hard Candy;” I was considering seeing that. I’d never heard of “Requiem for a Dream,” so I went to IMDb. It didn’t sound too difficult, but I guess you can’t really tell from a synopsis.
But I think it’s safe to say that I’m never going to see “An American Crime!”
September 21, 2008 at 8:11 pm |
This movie was horrifying, but a story that needed to be told. I have to wonder whatever became of the kids that took part in that horrible torture. How could they ever have lived with themselves?
October 25, 2008 at 3:23 am |
i’ve just finished watching this movie.. and it’s been maybe 4 hours now and i’m still thinking about it.. i cried few times.. and it is kinda disturbing… i really thought Sylvia would still be alive… when she went back to da house, i thought that it was her little sister on the floor..
like some of you say… good that her story gets to be told.. and i hope all the people who tortured sylvia gets what they deserve…
November 4, 2008 at 3:38 am |
I thin it was a very fasinating movie premeire…but it needed to be told.I
also thi nk whoever tortuerd her needs to get (punished) as they say.