Review of Palindromes (2005) by Joey T — 22 Jul 2012

It's been nine years and in the beginning of this film we see a dedication to Dawn Wiener. The first scene is at Dawn's funeral and we find out that she has just killed herself. After watching Welcome to the Dollhouse there really isn't much question as to why she has ended her own life.

Things never looked up for her. Now Aviva is scared that she will turn into Dawn. She is Dawn's cousin, after all. What if her mother one day stops loving her? What if everyone hates her? Well, she must have a baby because that child will never be able to not love her.

The rest of the film has the Solondz trademark. We should not be laughing during a film of an emotionally troubled 13-year-old girl who wants to have baby, and yet we do. Aviva doesn't care about sex.

Not one bit. She's 13 and what girl of that age is interested in sex? She meets Judah who she ends up having sex with and asks him to finish the job inside her, which leads to her getting pregnant.

Of course her parents aren't happy and want her to get an abortion. This leads to an emotional piece by Ellen Barkin who tells her daughter that she had an abortion once after she had Aviva because they weren't financially capable of raising another child.

I thought it was funny she explains that she took her to an N'SYNC concert then later she becomes part of a Christian family band that's highly reminiscent of N'SYNC. There are 8 different Aviva's in this story and each of them are tied together by something her cousin Mark Wiener says later in the film.

When Joyce explains that her son was going to be named Henry, that Aviva's segment is called Henry. Then after she gets her abortion she begins to call herself Henrietta because her baby was going to be a girl.

There's a segment called Huckleberry where Aviva is seen running away and even takes a boat down a river. After this segment she turns into a big black woman during the Mama Sunshine segment. Sharon Wilkins puts on one heck of a performance.

I felt like I was actually watching a little girl trapped in a different body. All the children that live with Mama Sunshine have been rescued from worse living situations. Peter Paul says he has to have mucus sucked out of him every night, a girl is blind and addicted to drugs because her mom was a drug addict, one girl has no arms, etc.

They have all been saved in Christ because of Mama Sunshine. They believe in the love of life and preserving life no matter what. Mama Sunshine might seem like she can actually be strict against abortion because she has saved those whose mothers tried to abort them.

She shows that a difficult life is better living than none at all, which is something that Aviva can stand behind. She still hates thinking that she aborted her baby. But even so, I'm not sure if Mama Sunshine actually knows this, but the men in her house murder abortion doctors.

Aviva goes on a trip to kill her abortion doctor with the man she believes she loves, but he accidentally kills a little girl along with the doctor. He realizes his sin as it happens and can't believe what he's done.

He says he's going to hell and can't be saved anymore, so he stands in front of the cops with a gun in his hands. The segment with Jennifer Jason Leigh really nails down this film. She speaks to Mark who tells her that no matter what people are always the same.

You might get a sex change, go tanning, get older, but if you are an optimist then you will always be one. If you are a cynic that will never change. You can pretend, but what's at the core of you will always be the same.

That's why Aviva keeps changing. It shows that all of these different looking people have the same problems as her. We can all relate to her on some core level. Through all of these questions of abortion Solondz seems to not have an answer for what's right or wrong.

Instead he tries to show that we all are out to do what is right for us. At first it seemed like a cynical movie, but after thinking about it I found much hope and humanity.