Review of An American Crime (2007) by Ryan E — 05 Oct 2009

One of two movie's made around the same time back in 2007 that has never been released outside the States.Due to controversy and failure to find an international distributor,An American Crime and Hounddog (a film which outraged America by featuring a scene where a child,played by a 12 year old Dakota Fanning,is raped and murdered) remain largely unmarketed and widely panned critically and commercially by the small amount of the population that actually knows the films even exist.

Taken from court transcripts and the sworn testimony's of the witnesses and accused,An American Crime tells the true-story of the brutal and horrific murder of 16 year old Sylvia Liken by Gertrude Baniszewski,a neighbour and mother of six,who was entrusted by Sylvia's parents as her and her younger sister Jennie's guardian for a two month period while they travelled America.When Sylvia and Gertrude's eldest daughter fall-out Sylvia is banished to the basement as punishment.There,she's forced to endure demeaning and savage physical abuse at the hands of the entire Baniszewski family and children from the neighbourhood invited by the Baniszewski kid's to come round and have "fun" with Sylvia.

Director Tommy Haver's film is poorly scripted,poorly scored and features a perplexing,pointless dream-like sequence towards the end that has no relevance and makes no sense.Drama and tension are also in short supply here and there are a selection of mis-cast characters.The biggest one being Catherine Keener,a actress I very much like,but her likeability as an actress made it difficult to sell the idea that she was the right choose to play Gertrude.However,the wonerfull Ellen Page puts in yet another top-notch performance considering the limitations of the quality of the source material.

To see An American Crime you would need to go out of your way to find a copy of the DVD,and take my word for it,it isn't worth the hassle.