VERY MINOR SPOILERS FOLLOW.
This is an excellent film, if very hard to watch. And hard to watch it definitely is. Sporting a great cast and made under equally great direction, it is the subject matter alone that creates the horror. Some reviewers have called this a horror film, and while that description is usually reserved for creature features and all sorts of "scary movies", this is a true horror film. It isn't scary but it makes you terribly uneasy. It isn't gruesome in the traditional sense of cinematic gruesomeness (gore, blood and such) but I nevertheless had to stop the film twice while watching it. Mostly because I had to cool myself down as to not punch something. Never has a movie made me so angry - the majority of characters in this are so unspeakably shallow, self-important and false that they make you want to grab them by the shoulders and shake them. The incredibly evil double standards employed by Gertrude Baniszewski stand against every logical human decision, every kind of understanding. The case of Sylvia Likens may be one of the most depressing and disturbing cases in human legal history. Firstly because of the utter cruelty and mercilessness of the perpetrators and secondly because of the grave indifference of the environment - scenes of neighbors saying "Best to stay out of it" are as worse as the scenes depicting the torture going on at the same time. Interspersing the flashbacks (which make up the bulk of the film) with scenes from the courtroom was a gracious decision by the director because they provide some form of escapement. In the courtroom scenes, one can be sure to be in a place of order, of justice and normality, whereas the scenes at the Baniszewski home are practically hell. A place of random punishment, irrationality and torture from which there is no escape - the most horrifying thing I could think of. What begins as short bursts of corporal punishment soon turns into an insane marathon of self-justice and immoral judgment. Sylvia Likens bears the punishment for another person's entire ruined life and essentially pays for that person's - Gertrude Baniszewski - faults. I can safely say that this was one if not the most terrifying film I have ever seen. It gets full marks for cast, direction, art direction and music. But it certainly isn't for everyone.
This is an excellent film, if very hard to watch. And hard to watch it definitely is. Sporting a great cast and made under equally great direction, it is the subject matter alone that creates the horror. Some reviewers have called this a horror film, and while that description is usually reserved for creature features and all sorts of "scary movies", this is a true horror film. It isn't scary but it makes you terribly uneasy. It isn't gruesome in the traditional sense of cinematic gruesomeness (gore, blood and such) but I nevertheless had to stop the film twice while watching it. Mostly because I had to cool myself down as to not punch something. Never has a movie made me so angry - the majority of characters in this are so unspeakably shallow, self-important and false that they make you want to grab them by the shoulders and shake them. The incredibly evil double standards employed by Gertrude Baniszewski stand against every logical human decision, every kind of understanding. The case of Sylvia Likens may be one of the most depressing and disturbing cases in human legal history. Firstly because of the utter cruelty and mercilessness of the perpetrators and secondly because of the grave indifference of the environment - scenes of neighbors saying "Best to stay out of it" are as worse as the scenes depicting the torture going on at the same time. Interspersing the flashbacks (which make up the bulk of the film) with scenes from the courtroom was a gracious decision by the director because they provide some form of escapement. In the courtroom scenes, one can be sure to be in a place of order, of justice and normality, whereas the scenes at the Baniszewski home are practically hell. A place of random punishment, irrationality and torture from which there is no escape - the most horrifying thing I could think of. What begins as short bursts of corporal punishment soon turns into an insane marathon of self-justice and immoral judgment. Sylvia Likens bears the punishment for another person's entire ruined life and essentially pays for that person's - Gertrude Baniszewski - faults. I can safely say that this was one if not the most terrifying film I have ever seen. It gets full marks for cast, direction, art direction and music. But it certainly isn't for everyone.