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Rating:  -
"An American Crime" presents a streamlined retelling of an actual 1965 child abuse case which resulted in the death of 15 year old Sylvia Likens. It is told through a combination of dramatizations of the abuse Sylvia suffered at the hands of the woman charged with caring for her, along with, frighteningly, the woman's own children and several neighborhood kids who in the film at least appear to have joined in the abuse and torture with nary a hint of conscience in sight.
While "based on a true story"--and yes, the setting, characters, and most of the major events are indeed drawn from the real-life case (down to using exact dates and courtroom testimony drawn from real-life transcripts), this must not be mistaken for a documentary. A number of events from the real-life case are omitted entirely and the abuse and torture of Sylvia Likens is, mercifully, toned down from the reality. I applaud this choice on the part of the filmmakers. While the film is grim from beginning to end and no punches are pulled as far as what occurred, far more is suggested than is shown, and horrors which truly could not have been depicted in a mainstream movie are omitted entirely. Less successful are the director's occasional forays into surrealism, possibly in an attempt to depict Sylvia's attempts to escape from the horrors of reality by retreating into memories of a happier time. In particular, a scene near the end is so confusing that one may end up watching the credits crawl for a while before realizing that the climax of the film has come and gone.
The film has an interesting psychological undertone which attempts to explain seemingly inexplicable events. One sees the repressed atmosphere which is often the precursor of hysteria, the naming of a scapegoat, the gathering storm as the scapegoat becomes victim, and the transference of the guilt of the "community" (in this case, a small group of children and two adults) onto the scapegoat as much in the hope of avoiding meeting the same fate as anything else. In a single household, one sees the progression of the mindset which, once entrenched, burns witches. And we see the faces of the villagers who march with the mob rather than risk becoming the object of the mob's pitchforks and torches.
The atmosphere in "An American Crime" is nearly palpable, shifting rapidly back and forth between the bleak, grimy interior of the house in which most of the story takes place and the neutral, almost sterile presence of the courtroom scenes (which often appear almost as a relief just as matters onscreen approach the point at which one wants to turn away). Silence is a character in the film as much as any of the actors: the silence which builds dread in the knowledge that another horror is forthcoming, the silence of those who hear screams coming from the house and either ignore them utterly or decide to "mind their own business", and the final, terrible, moment of silence which marks the end of Sylvia Likens' life.
The acting is top-notch and the actors bear a surprising resemblance to the real-life people behind it. Whether the real-life individuals really acted as they do in movie is a matter for some conjecture. Nonetheless, you will come away from this film realizing that you have seen the face of evil, and that sometimes it is an ordinary, even a smiling face. Perhaps even the face of someone you know.
This movie is likely to haunt you, and it should. I highly recommend some independent reading on the real-life case which inspired the movie. Grim reading though it may be, there is nevertheless a certain fascinating atmosphere to the story. Perhaps because it really happened, it still happens today, and if we remain silent and insist that it's "better to mind our own business", we place ourselves in danger of becoming accomplices to horror, just as did those in this film. We can do better. We owe Sylvia Likens that.
Rating:  -
I loved this movie!! It is way better than "the girl next door" by Jack Ketchum.
Ellen Page deserves an Oscar for her acting in this movie.
I don't remember a movie that made me cry so hard.
Totally recommended!!
Rating: -
An American Crime (Tommy O'Haver, 2007)
O'Haver takes a left turn and goes way out into the field for his sixth feature film. The director of such light, family-friendly (well, depending on your family) fare as Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss and Ella Enchanted takes on the Likens case, examination of which has expereinced something of a renaissance since the re-release of Jack Ketchum's Likens-based novel The Girl Next Door (which was also made into a film recently) a few years ago.
In case you've missed the flap, here's a quick rundown: Sylvia (Juno's Ellen Page) and Jennie (Ring Around the Rosie's Hayley McFarland) Likens are left by their parents in the care of Gertrude Baniszewski (Being John Malkovich's Catherine Keener), a woman who's slick and likable on the outside, but dangerously unstable on the inside. When the girls' parents are late with their board check, Gertrude takes it out on Sylvia. The punishment escalates into one of the most horrific crimes in American history, an almost unbelievable combination of mass hysteria and Stockholm Syndrome that eventually had almost all of the neighborhood's kids committing the worst kind of degradations, with Sylvia Likens as a combination punching bag and sex toy. Of course, nothing good can come of this.
While it's certainly possible that the very subject matter alone will turn viewers off, it should be noted that as far as actual onscreen violence, An American Crime is not nearly as graphic as The Girl Next Door; much of what happens is suggested but never shown (instead, the camera cuts away and we're left with our imaginations or muffled sound effects heard from outside the house). This is definitely not a movie for gorehounds. O'Haver plays it more as a psychological drama/thriller, focusing on the paradoxical relationship between Baniszewski and Likens, where Baniszewski is as apt to be on her knees begging Sylvia for forgiveness as she is burning her with a cigarette. Because of this, the film is made or broken by the performances of Keener and Page, both of whom shine here-- this is by far Page's best acting moment since Hard Candy, and I'm not sure Keener has ever been this good. The two of them are backed up by a strong supporting cast including Scout Taylor-Compton, Ari Gaynor, Brian Geraghty, and Bradley Whitford, among others, who turn in good performances while allowing Page and Keener to steal the show.
An incredible piece of work, one of the ten best movies I've seen this year. ****
Rating: -
This movie, although not totally all factual, gives a very touching story about Sylvia Likens and the tortured young life she had.I bought both the DVD & book(not same title) & I believe if this isn't one of the most horrific crimes ever committed, I don't know what would be.
I lived in Indianapolis as a child, when this happened, about 6 blocks from where it took place.It was such a "horrendous" crime, especially in those days, I will never forget it.
I am glad to see Sylvia's story was finally told.
Wish one of the crimes shows would do a follow up on where all the "participants" are now.
Rating:  -
An American Crime is a film that attempts to tackle the grizzly horrors of the 1965 murder of Sylvia Likens. For those of you who are not familiar with the actual case, sylvia Likens was a 16 year old girl that was tortured to death under the control of a 37 year old woman named Gertrude Baniszewski. Gertrude was paid by Sylvia's parents to care for her and her handicapped 15 year old sister Jenny Likens. What makes this case even more shocking and surreal is that not only did Gertrude take part in the torture herself, but she also managed to orchestrate an atmosphere in which her own kids along with various other neighborhood children took part in the abuse of Sylvia Likens willingly. What started out as some rather severe punishment, soon escalated into such extreme illegal abuse that Sylvia was subsequently imprisoned in the Baniszewski family cellar so that she wouldn't escape and go tell the athorities. In her time of torture in the Baniszewski house, Sylvia was pushed down staircases repetitively, bathed in scalding hot water, had lit cigarettes put out all over her body, and had the words " I'm a prostitute and proud of it" carved into her belly along with a grotesque number 3. Other acts of sickening barbarity included being tortured in various sexual ways, being hosed off with cold water when she soiled herself, being beaten, punched, kicked, and flipped over the backs of other kids Judo style. Eventually she was left tied up in the cellar, unfed and filthy, which caused her to become weak and feverish, while at the same time, her multitude of open sores became infected. As for Sylvia's little sister Jenny, she was successfully presured into keeping her mouth shut and looking the other way by the threat of suffering the same consequences herself. Though there are no fathomable excuses as to how or why a collective group of people could find it in themselves to take their frustrations out on a captive slave for months on end without ever once giving in to their own conscience, the actual motive seems to stem from jealousy. Gertrude Baniszewski resented Sylvia Likens for being prettier and purer then herself and her own 17 year old daughter Paula Baniszewski. This resentment turned into one of the most horrific crimes in American history.
The very nature of this story presents any film maker brave enough to tackle it with quite the paradox. It is not just the torture that makes this story very problematic in our highly prudish society, but the fact that the participants were all underaged children outside of Gertrude herself. Naturally there would be a reluctance to delve too deeply into the brutalility for fear of not achieving that highly coveted R rating from the MPAA. Yet the abuse and torture has to be shown in some believable way since it is the very power that guides this story. To candy coat these atrocities too much would in effect neuter the film of its edge. Also, the film makers are being asked to depict physical abuse in what is the most subjective of all mediums. It is very tricky business to depict physical abuse on film because it is all too easy to turn what was meant to be shocking and horrific into an unplanned all out laugh riot. It's a delicate balance of tactful story telling made all the more precarious since it forces the film makers to be brave enough to take some real chances.
No guts, no glory.
Instead of tackling this tantilizing conundrum head on, writer and director Tommy O'Haven decided to smooth over the brunt force of the more visceral aspects of this story as much as he possibly could. In order to do so, he used three different techniques as buffers against the impact that an actual blow by blow account of this case would of had on an audience. One technique was the use of a rather gimmicky surprise ending that suffice to say, was clunky at best and deserving of little more then a sigh of contempt from any movie patron worth their weight in sophistication. Another technique was the use of voice overs in the beginning and end of the film by Ellen Page. This too seemed rather gimmicky in that it was barrowed a bit too directly from American Beauty, and served only to invoke a forced responce of manipulated sadness from the audience at the appropriate time in the movie. In the beginning of the film, Ellen Page's voice over tells us how much she loves to go to the carnival and ride the merry go round even though she knows that she is far too old for it. She says that she likes to ride it because it makes her feel safe. At the end of the film there is another voice over, presumably now from Sylvia Likens ghost which plays over the top of an image of Ellen Page riding a lit up merry go round at night in an abandoned carnival. Ellen Page has this sad forlorn expression etched onto her pretty face, as she hugs the pole of her merry go round horse while traveling round and round, lost and alone.
"As for me I returned to the carnival." Her ghost is saying over this tearful image, "The one place I always felt safe."
I know that syrup like this works on a lot of people, but if you ask me, syrup only catches flies.
Flashback to the Future.
The most over used technique in An American Crime was the use of flash backs. There are so many flash backs in this film, that Martin Scorsese would be rolling over in his grave if he wasn't still alive. This is a technique that if not handled carefully, only manages to become intrusive to the impact of a scene. In An American Crime, these flash backs pop up every time the abuse escalates and the film starts to become good and intense. One moment we are heading into a shocking situation in which there is no escape, the next, we are jolted into the safe controlled confines of the court proceedings that are taking place in the future. In one three minute long sequence of abuse, this technique was used no less then 11 times. These continual interruptions only succed in killing the power of the moment. It is not unlike catching a fish, but instead of reeling it in, you cut the line as soon as you get one on the hook. The question I would have to ask Tommy O'haven is, why make a film about this kind of subject matter if you are too scared to actually let the audience experience the power of the story uninterrupeted in the first place? He is only defeating the purpose by constantly pulling the chicken switch every time things start to become a bit hairy.
An American Crime's ill attempted crucifix masturbation scene.
Another film that is plagiorized by An American Crime is The Exorcist by William Friedkin. Now inless you have been living in a cave for the past 35 years, you will undoubtedly know that the crucifix masturbation scene in The Exorcist is easily one of the most infamous moments ever to be captured on film. An American Crime tried to have its own all powerful infamous moment too, in what was meant to be its five star super delux shocker scene. Yet, instead of designing this scene in an entirely original way, Tommy O'Haven chose to use the crucifix masturbation scene in The Exorcist as an exact blueprint to try to achieve success with his own big moment.
The big scene in An American Crime is the bottle rape scene, its sequence of action plays out in this order.
1- First we see the bottle, then Sylvia is ordered to insert it into herself by Gertrude, Sylvia says that she can't, and Gertrude tells her that she is not trying hard enough.
2- The front door opens and two teenagers enter the living room, all so we can see their once happy exuberant faces change into reaction shots of shock and amazement.
3- We see what was meant to be Sylvia inserting the bottle into herself and the immediate melee that fallows.
4- Gertrude orders the bigger kids in the room to place Sylvia in the cellar, they drag her there resisting and struggling.
5- This shocking moment is capped off when two big kids shove Sylvia in the back, sending her flying down the cellar staircase.
The crucifix masturbation scene in The Exorcist plays out in this order.
1- Regan's mother hears the demon yelling at her daughter to "Do it" from the upstairs bedroom. You can also hear Regan trying to resist. Regan's mother runs upstairs.
2- Regan's mother throws open the bedroom door, and before we get to see the horror that awaits inside that room, we first see her mothers reaction shots.
3- We then see the crucifix masturbation scene in all its glory, and the very violent melee that fallows.
4- Regan's mother sees her only chance of escaping the bedroom thwarted when the furniture begins to move by telekenitic power, which sends Regan's mother scurrying out of the way of an approaching dresser on all fours.
5- This shocking moment is capped off when Regan spins her head around backwards.
Thank you MR. Friedkin.
Unfortunately for Tommy O'Haven, the similarities between these two scenes ends there, for unlike the amazingly crafted and perfected moment of ultimate shock in The Exorcist, the bottle rape scene in An American Crime plays as little more then a futile display of cinematic faux pas. Like every other threatening moment in An American Crime, once the situation starts to venture down the dark alleys of real subversive horror, a flash forward is immediatley inserted which takes the viewer right out of the path of any real danger, and into the sterile safty net of the court room. This happens immediately after we see the empty coke bottle. Faster then you can say "Cop Out", a flash forward is inserted, placing the viewer in the court proceedings where a little girl is being cross examined by the DA. As the little girl starts to tell the DA what Gertrude wanted Sylvia to do with the bottle, we are returned back to the bottle rape scene. Only now, the audio from the court proceedings plays over the top of the bottle rape scene as a kind of voice over explaining the action rather then just allowing us to see it for ourselves. The only time that we actually do hear the participants in the scene actually speak is when Sylvia says. "I can't." And Gertrude sternly replies. "I don't think you're trying hard enough".
Now imagine if this silly ploy was used during the infamous crucifix masturbation scene in The Exorcist. I can picture it now, Regan's mother would be in a therapy session sometime in the future, she would be lying on her shrink's sofa as the shrink asks.
"Now Miss MacNeil, what did your daughter say next?"
The camera would then pan down Regan's demonic face to her cruel twisted mouth, as we hear her mothers diembodied voice explaing over the image.
"Well you see, she wouldn't stop attacking herself with that crucifix you know, and um, she kept saying over and over..."
Then Regan's demon voice would yell out the infamous line.
"Let Jesus blank you, let Jesus blank you!!"
I don't know about the rest of you, but I would like to take a moment to personally thank director William Friedkin for steering clear of such horrendous choices in cutting together that infamous scene.
"Thank you MR. Friedkin."
So much for the laws of physics.
When we actually do see the three images that constitute the bottle rape scene, they leave an awful lot to be desired. The first image is a very wide master shot that shows the entire living room. All the children are lined up with Gertrude to witness the forced debauchery take place. Ellen Page is seen from the back at such an angle, that we do not see her left arm at all, and we only see her right arm down to the elbow. Her hands, and the bottle are completely hidden from our view by her body. From that angle it is possible that all Ellen Page is really doing is letting out a groan while bending a bit at the waist. Since her hands are hidden from our view, one can even make the case that she isn't even holding the bottle at all during that shot. On top of this, her knee lenth skirt isn't even pulled up one iota, making the implied activity a virtual physical impossibility. Next shot, we see the bottle shatter on the hardwood floor. This too looks suspect because the glass is far too thin to be that of an old fashioned coke bottle. It looks far more like someone just dropped a juice glass between Ellen Page's feet. Now, not only would an old fashioned coke bottle not brake if dropped from a hight of less then three feet onto a hardwood floor, but the shattering of the glass is only a deceptive device used to take the viewers attention away from the fact that all the power has already been gutlessly siphoned right out of the scene. The final image is of Ellen Page landing on a sofa in sitting position with a grimace on her face. Talk about handling the difficulties of a tough scene with kids gloves on, these images look far more like something one would expect to find in an afterschool special rather then a powerful R rated drama about the horrors and trauma of gross physical abuse. No wonder Tommy O'Haven chose to have these depictions explained to us by some clumsy futuristic court proceeding insert rather then letting the images themselves provide the necessary information. Without a verbal description, there would be no way of actually knowing what had just taken place.
Yet the real icing on this lilly livered cake is when Ellen Page is shoved down the staircase. We never get to see the stairs, or anyone tumbling down them. All we are shown is a computer generated black void taking up the empty doorway to the cellar, and Ellen Page diving into the pitch darkness going. "AAAAaaaaaaahhhhh!!"
Outside of being flat out funny looking, the musical score that was meant to imply the dread, disgust, and shock that we were suppose to feel during this Earth shattering moment, sounds far more suited for the film Killer Clowns From Outerspace. Thanks to An American Crime, I now know what Guinness feels like coming out of my nose.
I know that the one arguement that can be made about my critism of this film is that of social responsibility. Lovers of this film can always say that Tommy O'Haven chose to candy coat the atrocities because he is just showing sound social values with his tact and restraint. But in all honesty, when a scene calls for a 17 year old girl to slug a 16 year old girl so hard in the face that she fractures her fist in the process, I want it to look like something more then a hissy fit slap fight between two toddlers. The fact remains that the Sylvia Likens story pushes the very fabric of social decency anyway, so what it really needed was a gutsy director willing to take risks, not Tommy O'Haven whose approach was to pussyfoot.
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