An American Crime

I just saw An American Crime. This film was so powerful. For those of you that do not know, this film is based on a true story. I was already aware of the story, because I grew up in Indianapolis, IN (where the actual events occurred). I remember that I first heard the story when I was in high school. My English teacher mentioned that he had once taught one of the Baniszewski children. I remember being stunned when he then told us the story of Sylvia Likens, but even knowing about and hearing the story could in no way prepare me to see the film. The whole thing was almost surreal. The way in which these people acted in no way made sense to me. To top it all off, throughout the film, there are small mentions of places, schools, locations, etc. that (being from Indianapolis) I recognized. To not only see such a heinous crime brought on screen, but to have it all brought close-to-home like that was terrifying. Every time I would get lost in the film, I would be reminded that this is something that really happened in my city just about twenty years before I was born. It was scary to think about.

The film itself was done really well. I do not think that I have ever seen Catherine Keener in such a powerful role. She really did an amazing job. The children in this film were also all very good. This film deals with such adult subject-matter that I would have been surprised it the filmmakers had decided to lesses the roles of some of the younger children. This was not the case, and after seeing the film, I really agree with the choices made by the filmmakers. The children are all really critical to the film. They all seemed to do a very good job of handling their roles. I could not imagine being put in the kind of position that those children were put in.

I would recommend this film to anyone, but I would also strongly recommend for anyone interested in seeing the film to not go in blind. You should definitely find out some informaiton about the story before deciding if you want to see it.