Review of Michael (2011) by Jules T — 19 Sep 2014

I'm rating this movie 5/5 because I felt profoundly moved and disturbed by it. People say it didn't give much insight into the motivations of Michael but I feel it gave a great deal and not by the way of 'excusing'.

It revealed an emotionally incompetent man utterly unable to relate to adults and that his family were cold and distant people amongst themselves and certainly the mother portrayed as dysfunctional. I felt sick and wounded after watching this and convinced the child is dead not alive, I am surprised to see people think he is found alive as there were signifiers to indicate this would not be the case.

Although he did have the electricity switched on inside when the mother opened the door which is a clue to his possible survival. I know the director has said he intended it for the child to have been assumed to live however clearly he didn't and wanted it to be ambiguous and for us all to draw our own conclusion.

The style of narrative (or lack of) is clearly that all interpretation is subjective.