An American Crime (movie) review.

When I reviewed The Girl Next Door, which is also based on the case of Sylvia Likens, I could hardly put my thoughts into words. I sat in front of my computer screen for hours knowing that I needed to write something, but unable to find the words, which is somewhat frustrating for a writer. No such problem exists with this film, An American Crime.

An American Crime is more true to the actual events then The Girl Next Door, although it skips over a lot of the abuse and doesn't really give a clear picture of what this young girl was forced to endure during those few months in late 1965. Sylvia Likens, fondly nicknamed "Cookie" by her father, and her sister Jenny were two bright, energetic, and endearing teenagers. When their parents decide to go on the road with a carnival they are left in the care of Gertrude Baniszewski, a single mother with seven children who is constantly sick and battling with depression.

The real life story of Sylvia is one that will forever haunt me. When police found her body on October 26, she had been burned with cigarettes and matches over a hundred times, beaten on a daily basis by a host of neighborhood kids from 11 to 18 years of age, starved, forced to eat her own feces, and a host of other atrocities that I cannot repeat here. But by far the worst torment she endured was a brand across her chest made with a hot piece of metal that said "I am a prostitute and proud of it." Sylvia, only sixteen at the time of these tortures, was killed in one of the most horrendous fashions imaginable.

So, which film, An American Crime or The Girl Next Door, is truly the better film?

When it comes to staying true to the original story An American Crime comes out on top. None of the tortures depicted in this film are fictional, they all happened, none of the characters made up, and only a few events fictionalized to make the story seem more dramatic. The problem I had with this film, however, is that it's really tame compared to The Girl Next Door and the actual events. Sure, everything here actually happened, but there are a host of other atrocities that are either skipped over or mentioned only in passing. Some of Sylvia's tormenters are given a free pass in this film, their own actions glazed over giving them a by that they clearly did not deserve. Paula was not the reluctant friends she is portrayed as in the film; she was one of the ringleaders of the abuse and often bragged about how badly she would beat Sylvia .

In the film there is a specific scene when, at a church picnic, she was asked by an adult how she broker her wrist, to which Paula replied, “I lost my temper with Sylvia, she’s been doing some terrible things and I’ve had to be strict with her.”

In real life a neighbor had come over to the Baniszewski house to pick up some laundry. When she noticed Sylvia in the corner badly beat up and bruised, she asked Paula about it. Paula only smiled and bragged that she’d given Sylvia those bruises, “hit her so hard I broke my wrist.” The neighbor, of course, never reported this comment. Sylvia was dead a month later.

 I thought, before reviewing the case for myself, that this film was exaggerated. It is not, in fact its incredibly tame considering the source material. If you think the film is gut retching, I dare you to actually review the case. Just the bare facts were enough to bring me to tears. This movie doesn't even scratch the surface of these people’s crimes and the pain Sylvia must have endured.

But the worst complaint I have about this films is not its overly tame nature, it's the horrendous script and reliance on cheap Hollywood tricks that were, frankly, unneeded and violated the integrity of the film. This movie has nothing if it lacks realism, but inserted to the film throughout are many Hollywood tricks created to make the film seem more "dramatic" and "faster paced." Trust me; there is no need for any of that if you stick to the source material. The music is the first thing I noticed. It's loud, obnoxious, and distracting. There was simply no need for it a lot of the time. The films content can stand on its own two legs without us needing to hear overly dramatic music glaring in our ears.

Spoiler.

Also, the whole "dead girl narrating her own death" subplot really undermines the realism of this film. She's dead; she can't narrate her story, and having her drift around as a ghost witnessing her own death and visiting those who killed her in prison didn't work for this films favor either. But the one part that infuriated me the most was the fake escape scene where Sylvia actually escapes convinces one of her tormenters to take her to her parents, and returns only to find that she never escaped at all, she died and is now wandering around like a ghost. In reality, Sylvia when she learned that Gertrude was planning on dumping her in nearby woods, did try to escape. She was caught, beaten until she passed out, and thrown back into the basement where shortly thereafter she died. The whole scene tanked the films credibility, in my opinion. Instead of staying true to the story and showing the death of Sylvia as it ACTULLY happened, they use smoke and mirrors to try to make the actual death even sadder. But they forgot one thing, YOU CAN'T MAKE IT ANY SADDER THEN IT REALLY WAS! The real life case is probably the most heartbreaking story ever told, why rely on these smoke and mirror tactics? The mind boggles.

A film like this needs realism and great acting. It struck out on the realism, but hit a home run with the acting. Since seeing Juno I have been a fan of Ellen Page, who plays Sylvia in this film. Page is, in my opinion, the BEST young actress in the business today, bar none. Every role she touches turns to gold, and her portrayal of Sylvia is far superior to Blythe Auffarth's (Meg in The Girl Next Door) portrayal of the same character. Sylvia is played perfectly by Page, who expresses the emotions and pain that Sylvia went through in horrific detail. Although the actual torture scenes were tame in comparison to The Girl Next Door and the actual events, Page made them almost unbearable all the same. At one point I actually had to stop watching the film. Page was obviously the better actress, but another reason this portrayal of Sylvia is superior to The Girl Next Door is because Page looks much younger then did Auffarth. Although she's playing a sixteen year old girl, she looks like she's thirteen. She's also a lot more passive then Auffarth's character, and takes the tortures and punishments with hardly a word of defiance or pleading.

In addition to the stunning job Page did, her co star, Catherine Keener Gertrude Baniszewski was also a home run. She wasn't simply crazy and moralistic like Ruth was in TGND, she was a struggling single mother of seven who took her anger and frustration over not being able to care or her children out on an innocent girl. She's more human, which makes her character all the more terrifying. She's not insane in the same way Ruth is (although she is still insane, just not in the same way), she isn't just punishing bad behavior as she sees it, she actually believe she's protecting her kids from the "bad influence" Sylvia has on them, although Sylvia never (the film and real life) actually committed any of the sins they claimed she did. Everything she does she does to protect her kids, but as we see in the end, she was really only protecting herself.

So I'm going to have to recommend The Girl Next Door over this film. Although TGND does add a few things to the story that weren't true, messes around with the characters, and has its own problem with an overly Hollywoodized ending, it is still the better of the two films and is nothing short of a cinematic masterpiece. Put Page and Catherine Keener in that film and we'd have one of the best films of all time. An American Crime just doesn't hold the same power, and commits far too many mistakes of its own.

Replay value; low.

The Girl Next Door (movie) review.

 Human Brutality Knows no End. 5/5 stars.


WARNING, contains spoilers.

Who is worse; the abuser who uses their position of power to torture and maim innocent people, or the person who sits idly by and allows the abuse to continue?

How can I possibly review a movie like The Girl Next Door? I've been sitting in front of my computer screen for the last thirty minutes, knowing that I have to write something about this film but unable to do so. How can I write about the shocking nature of this film, about the brutality of human nature, the sickening imagery of a young and innocent girl forced to suffer and die to appease the demons of an insane woman? I know not the words needed to describe this film, but I will do my best none the less.

Let in 1958 in suburban America, The Girl Next Door tells the story of two newly orphaned girls, Meig and Susan (who is afflicted with polio and uses leg braces to walk) who are sent to live with their Aunt Ruth after their parents are killed in an accident. David, a young boy who lives in the house next door, takes an immediate liking to her and is thrilled to learn that he'll be able to see her every day. If one is unfamiliar with the themes of this film when they start watching it, you might mistake it at first for something along the lines of My Dog Skip, a coming of age story set in the 50's about a boy and his friends discovering all life has to offer. The contrast between the opening ten to twenty minutes and the rest of the film is probably the most powerful aspect of the film. The children go from stealing dirty magazines from their parents and thinking fondly about what it might be like to see a real woman, the next they are torturing and raping a young girl who has done nothing to deserve their hatred and scorn.

From the very beginning it is clear that Aunt Ruth has a strange dislike for these two girls. It begins simple enough with Ruth verbally abusing Meig and her sister for being too "lady like" and calling her a whore for making an oil painting for David, but quickly evolves into something far more sinister. David, as a close friend to Ruth's sons, has ample access to the house and witnesses first hand the brutality of Ruth when she hangs Meig by her arms from the ceiling and leaves her there to suffer all night.

There are many themes that are worth looking at in this film. One is the sense of helplessness that David feels when all the adults he knows have either turned a blind eye to the abuse, want only to mind their own business, or are active participants of the torture. David seems to be the only person in the film that knows exactly what is happening and knows it's wrong, and yet does nothing to stop it. I do not want to excuse his actions at all; after all how long can someone ignore the actions of evil without turning into a monster themselves? But it isn't hard to understand why he allowed the abuse to continue; in his mind there was nothing he could have done. For children, especially those of his age (thirteen) adults represent authority, to be respected and obeyed. But even when Ruth's actions become too much for him to ignore, his parents either ignore him or tell him to mind his own business, and the police don't take his warning seriously. Peer pressure also is a major factor in how David decides to act. His best friends not only know about what is going on, but enthusiastically take part in it as well. There are few things more disturbing then a group of young children, ages eight to fourteen, boys and girls, attentively watching the oldest amongst them rape and cut a defenseless girl while sipping on a bottle of root beer. Even the youngest amongst them would like nothing more then to cut Meig with a knife to mark her as the "whore" Ruth believes she is. These children are David's best friends, kids he's known forever and grew up with. How can he turn on them?

But as I said before, I don't want to excuse David's actions. If fact many times I found myself pleading with David to do something, anything, to make it stop. "You know what's right David" I'd find myself saying, "you have to do something, and you know it." Regardless of the peer pressure, regardless of his authority figures refusal to intervene, David is still the only person in the film with a sense of right wrong; it is his responsibility to do something.

This is not a film for everyone. Although most of the abuse is done off camera and is implied rather then shown, the graphic nature of this film is truly horrifying. I could barely finish this film, and I normally have a very strong stomach. Evil is hard to confront, most people would rather turn their backs and pretend it doesn't exist, so when it is presented in such clear and unmistakable terms, such as in this film, its devastating to its viewers. The Girl Next Door is not a snuff film; it is a dark and unforgiving look into the dark side of American suburbia. Watch at your own risk.

Replay value; low.

Guilt

CRASH!!!!!  Oh my God. I just broke the window. How could I have been so stupid!? In my anger at being refused permission to watch the football game, passed over for my nine year old brother John who had been there first and had been watching cartoons, I had gone outside to throw sticks. Don’t ask me why, but it seemed like fun at the time. I just needed to throw something and release the irrational anger that swelled through my veins. But one carelessly thrown stick had crashed through the window, shattering it and making it take the shape of a giant spider web caught in a rainstorm. Images rush through my head. Images of the time in Nebraska when my brother Michele had played golf inside and broke a hole in my mom’s antique cabinet. He had been punished for three weeks and had to miss all the Corn Husker games for a month. That was the worst part. And the time when I had kicked a ball, and knocked a painting off the fire place and had been spanked so hard I cried for the whole night.

          I know what I should do. I should go inside and tell my parents what happened. That’s what Michele would have done. Damn him he would have done the right thing. But he wouldn’t have gotten into trouble for it. But I would.

          All I did was stand there, thinking of what might happen if I did tell the truth. Of course I wouldn’t get spanked again; I was far too big for that sort of crap. But I would be shamed. Here I was, the oldest boy in the family, a role model for my younger siblings, and I had just broken the window. They would take my money to pay for it, and I wouldn’t be able to go out this weekend. I didn’t say anything. I just went inside and pretended that nothing happened.

          The next day my dad was furious. He had found the window and wanted to know who broke it. He turned to me and said son, did you break this window? I wanted to tell him so bad. I wanted to be a man and tell him that it was me. That I was ready to take any punishment he would give me, because that’s what men do. But I didn’t.

          “No” I said, “I don’t know what happened.” They never figured it out. I never blamed anyone else for what I did, nobody ever got in trouble. The days went by and everyone forgot about the window. Someone came and fixed it, and it was over. I never told them.

          I don’t think I ever will.

Whisper of Heavan

“I hear a whisper

Its calling my name

In the twilight of Heaven I can never be the     same

Out in the meadow,

A pale moon it rises

Lighting the way

For the heart that is pure.

As the crow flies and the wolf cries

To the full harvest moon,

I look to the distance and I see you there…

I reach out to touch you in the still quiet air. 

Don’t ask how it came to pass,

For the wise may not know,

How this world turned to ash, as the prophets foretold.

Carry on, carry on,

Babylon may not fall

As the sentries stand guard through the night

I know it’s out there,

A land that is green,

Untouched by the pleasures of mans misery,

A world we were promised,

A land of our own that calls come to me,

Come to me, and make me whole.”