The Woodsman
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Movie Reviews of The Woodsman
Movie Review: A very well acted film about child abuse
Summary: 5 Stars
The psychologist Bruno Bettelheim wrote in one of his books on fairy tales that another name for the story of Little Red Riding Hood is The Woodsman. Bettelheim said that the fable was suggesting a man abusing a young girl. The wolf symbolizes this kind of man. This is the thought behind this film's title. The film focuses on a convicted sex offender who had abused young girls. It raises the questions: can such a man change and live a "normal" life? If yes, how long will it take? What is "normal"?
The sex offender lives across the street from a grade school and watches young girls and boys coming and going to and from school. He sees another man watching the children. This man speaks to the kids and offers them candy.
A woman at work picks him up and the two have sex. She tells him that her three brothers abused her when she was a child, but she now has a good relationship with all three. After a while, he tells her what he had done. They separate, but she comes back. He is being treated by a psychologist. It comes out during the sessions that he and his sister slept together in the same bed from time to time. Now, unlike his girl friend's situation, his sister refuses to forgive him for what he did. He feels that he needs this forgiveness.
He sees a young girl in the park and is attracted to her. He follows her, sits with her, and asks her to sit on his lap. She tells him that her father did the same. She cries and says that if he still wants her to sit on his lap, she will do so. He says no. At home, sees the man who had been watching the children take a boy and later return with him, and he reacts.
His psychologist asks him about the tree incidences - his sister, the girl in the park, and the abuser. It will take time to resolve your problem, he says. And he asks, how do you feel about that?
Movie Review: A brillant, intelligent, honest movie
Summary: 5 Stars
There is a psychological reason why child rape - even statuatory rape - molestation is considered by far the most heinous crime. In Western society, we see children not as human beings with their own needs and feelings, but as abstract symbols of innocence. When that innocence is broken, people feel personally violated.
In this movie, Kevin Bacon plays the role of a newly-released "child rapist" trying to live a quiet life, struggling against his desires for children. His family has disowned him, and he doesn't want to relate to anyone, for fear of being found out.
This is a very intelligent and honest movie. The first thing it shows us, is that we like to brand child molestors "monsters" - but as his co-workers learn the truth about his crimes and assault him, it becomes harder to figure out who's the monster, if any. In a society where so-called "normal" people demand someone, anyone, to be jailed or die when a crime occurs, it becomes hard to make the difference.
Many reviewers are perhaps stubbornly "normal", or have no empathy, but they seem to have missed the point. Bacon's character is not a scumbag, but a pedophile who gave into his sexual desires and got caught. He truly believes that he is not hurting anyone. Perhaps this concept is too hard to accept for many people.
It also, perhaps tangentially, drives the point home that our children are not protected by the arbitrary and coercive family structure we have today... merely made servants of, oftentimes, evil or negligeant parents.
The cast is solid, but Bacon's performance is especially right on spot. The ending is depressing and bleak, but it only adds to the content. There is no way for a person like that to win in our society. Don't let the subject matter discourage you, this is one powerful and intelligent movie.
Movie Review: Easily Kevin Bacon's Best Performances
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Woodsman" is a haunting portrait of a pedophile who, recently released from Prison, trys to return to a normal life. The pedophile is Walter (Kevin Bacon, in an amazing performance) who serves 12 years in prison for raping a little girl and is released. He moves into an apartment across the street from an elementary school, where another pedophile trys to pick up little boys everyday; gets a job at a lumberyard; gets harrased by a police detective
(Mos Def); and is shunned by his sister, but not her husband (Benjamin Bratt). At the lumberyard he meets Vicki (real life wife Kyra Sedgwick) who looks past his...well...past and falls in love with him none-the-less. Problem is, Walter feels the pressures of society on him since child molestation is considered by man to be the worst thing you can do. He also can't help but feel urges every now and then. Now, this movie is hard to make; because the blatant fact is that Walter is a pedophile which most people would not feel sympathy for. The writers (Nicole Kassell & Steven Fechter) manage to portray Walter as what he is and don't really attempt to swing your feelings in any way. Problem is, you do feel sorry for Walter and the way he is treated because (from my standpoint) you realize that he is a person, although sick, he still is a person. Anyway, the title represents "Little Red Riding Hood" because the Woodsman is what saved Little Red Riding Hood from the stomach of the wolf. This is most definitley an overtone of the film, most notably when a girl Walter begins to follow is wearing a red jacket. Bacon and Sedgwick (despite the fact that they're married, which usually ruins performances) work well together and both deliver great performances. This movie makes an important statement and many people should see it. A-
Movie Review: Rewarding, but not for everyone.
Summary: 5 Stars
In a year when the big controversy was over "Brokeback Mountain" and the courage of the actors and filmmaker, another movie was released that truly was controversial and contained one of the bravest and most disturbing performances of the year. The subject of pedophelia is seldom dealt with, and when it is, the perpetrator is usually portrayed as an evil sicko. "The Woodsman" follows the life of a released pedophile (Kevin Bacon), and though he is sick the movie never really passes any judgement and simply lets the viewer in on his mundane life and his attempts at intimacy, normalcy and rehabitulation.
Kevin Bacon has been extremely effective in quite a few movies; "The Stir of Echoes", "Murder in the First" and "JFK", but never has his thin pursed lips and blank expression been used so effectively. He sometimes appears like a walking time-bomb and maybe that's what it's like to not be in control of one's obsessions, and you wonder if he is.
His crimes are never really explained but his habit of following young girls and his discussions with his shrink fill in some gaps. Kyra Sedgwick is excellent as his tough girlfriend, who has some secrets of her own, and the rest of the cast is uniformally good, particularly Mos Def (his parole officer), who somehow manages to be compassionate despite his understandable disgust.
The movie is not for every taste and there is one squirm inducing scene, but its' view of humanity and the struggles of people to hang on to it is quite rewarding.
Kevin Bacon can be an intense actor, but I'm beginning to miss his lighter comedic side. He's got such a winning smile but appropriately, in this movie, it only emerges when he appears the most comfortable, and that's when he's talking to a lonely young girl.
Movie Review: I can't say I enjoyed it, but...WOW!
Summary: 5 Stars
I rented this because Kevin Bacon does villains so well. Here again, he produces an incredibly difficult character--one that had to be emotionally draining, and, quite frankly, a risky career move. Yet he did it--and I believed it. Walter comes across as an ex-con, freshly out of the system, but still tied to it. Even his clothing and "industrial" style sheets were right. His body language, gestures, simple, yet deeply thought out speech patterns--perfect!
The plot was superb as well. Enough was left to conjecture, that I became deeply engrossed. This story could have actually happened--anywhere! The scene with Walter and the 11-year old in the park was so frightening in its plausibility, and so powerful in its delivery--all I can say is WOW--I'm still amazed.
BTW, this film is hardly sympathetic towards pedaphilia and those who engage in it. It's not a mere case study of a sex offender. The Woodsman forces us to take a look at ourselves, our children, our society in ways that are sometimes frightening, but yet seeded with hope.
A final comment--the DVD has an extended version of some scenes, included Walter with Robin in the park. If you finish the movie, and absolutely need a more positive spin, view the extended version. It is sweeter. On the other hand, the producer's did well to leave it out of the theater version--much better to let the audience ruminate over that scene!
Bottom-line: This is a stellar production about a wrenching subject. I have three little girls, which made the dramatic effects all the more gripping. BTW, my wife also found the film compelling--a true testament, considering the subject matter.