DVD Mini Review - An American Crime

Tommy O'Haver's An American Crime could not get theatrical distribution so it landed on cable's Showtime channel. I saw it on DVD. To say that it is disturbing is an understatement. It is based on the real life story of Gertrude Baniszewski (Catherine Keener), a troubled woman with six children and no husband. One day she takes in two more kids as borders. Their parents travel with the circus and decide to leave them with Gertrude.

It is obvious that Gertrude is mentally disturbed. But she is also viscious and violent. She takes out all of her demons on poor Sylvia (Ellen Page). There are a number of scenes that are very difficult to watch. Gertrudes children and some other kids participate in the torture of Sylvia. What is most disturbing to me is that no one, not even Sylvia's sister, reported this to the authorities. It just boggles the mind.

The film is well made and both Keener and Page give good performances (Keener earned an Emmy nomination). The other actors are also good. But the film sometimes puts Gertrude in a sympathetic light and I had no sympathy for her. Yes, she was poor. That doesn't give the right to torture this poor girl. And if ever there was a case for using birth control this is it. The real life Gertrude was even worse. But why try to make us feel something for her when she doesn't deserve it.

Although An American Crime is a good (but not great) film I can't recommend it to many people because of the nature of the story. On the other hand, people should know about this so maybe they should see the film in the hopes that we will know the signs of child abuse and do something about it before it is too late like it was with poor Sylvia.