User Reviews

While everyone was watching Juno, Ellen Page was making a much more important film. Those who do not have a background in child abuse, will find this very disturbing. It is a horror film that displays what goes on all over America, and is not always noticed, or, if noticed, is not always reported.

The film stars Catherine Keener as a mother that is overwhelmed by the fact that she has a half dozen kids to feed and little money coming in. He husband is not providing support, and neither is the father of her last child. Have to supervise her brood with a drug problem (albiet a legal one), is overwhelming.

When she is unable to handle the fact that her eldest is getting out of control and following in her footsteps, she selects one of the girls she is caring for to scapegoat. In other words, this girl (Ellen Page) will bear the scars and marks that she can't place on her own children. She shifts the blame from her and her children to Sylvia. Sylvia soon becomes the target of all the neighborhood children, believing that they are "teaching her" to be good. The adults in the neighborhood hear the screams coming from the house as she is burned with cigarettes and branded with a hot wire, and turn the other way.

It is a hard film to watch, even for those of us who have seen the results many times. For those not exposed to this stain on America, it can be very traumatic. Be forewarned.

Not many films make me feel sick to my stomach and not many make me feel such a profound sadness that I'm helpless to do anything but cry. An American Crime chronicles the startling and horrific events that led to the death of sixteen year old Sylvia Likens. The story we're told comes directly from the court transcripts in the case of Baniszewski vs. The State of Indiana. As the story unfolds we slowly spiral from a normal, small town world populated with youthful innocence to one of absolute and inexplicable horror.

The story of the events that led up to Likens' death is short and tragic, with many people to fault, including her own parents and sister. Her parents negligently entrusted her and her little sister's care to a woman they had only met once. This woman, Gertrude Baniszewski, was mother to a brood of children and accepted Sylvia and her sister into her home for the simple fact that she needed the money the Likens were offering. But Baniszewski wan't fit to care for the Likens' daughters and within a few months, Sylvia had become the victim of Gertrude's escalating abuse. Sylvia eventually became a prisoner in Baniszewski's basement for an excruciating 27 days, where she was abused and tortured by Baniszewski, her children and also a number of other neighborhood children. How could this have happened? How could so many people be involved in such a horrible crime? How could her own sister not have gone to the police before it was too late? After Sylvia died as a result of her beatings, Baniszewski's was found guilty of her crimes and sentenced to life in prison. Her children and the others involved were also found guilty and sentenced, each one eventually serving two years in prison. While Baniszewski's crimes are unforgivable, the thing I personally found most disturbing was how her example led to her children's and the other children's acts of cold, cruel, brutality.

The world we are introduced to in AAC is not sensational, on the contrary, it is simple, ordinary, common and comfortable. The production design and cinematography work in harmony, lulling the viewer into believing they are witness to a more innocent time and place and as the story builds the Norman Rockwell veneer slowly begins to chip away until it is displaced by a world of suffocating doom. The resulting effect is that AAC gets under our skin and disturbs us in a profound way since these crimes could have been committed in our neighborhood, by our neighbors and possibly by people we knew and trusted. Most disturbing of all is the realization these crimes could have involved us.

It would be easy to demonize Baniszewski and all the others involved in Likens death, but writer/director Tommy O'Haver chooses to humanize them instead. In doing so their horrible acts of abuse and torture linger and beg the recurring question: how could they have done this? When we see the faces of the children in court, we don't see the faces of psychopaths, we see innocent children with no explanation for their actions. Only Baniszewski herself comes across as a detached, delusional and remorseless criminal and Catherine Keener has to be applauded for somehow managing to add complexity and insight to someone guilty of such crimes. Keener's subtle performance aside, the standout in this movie is Ellen Page who breaks our heart when we watch her stripped of her innocence.

Before AAC, Page drew raves for her performances in Hard Candy and Juno. In both those films she played a precocious, smart assed hipster who had the world on the tip of her little finger. Here Page plays Likens as a sensitive, kind and considerate sixteen year old and when the world comes crashing down upon her, the suffering she endures is heartbreaking and convincingly rendered by Page. I'm sure few will agree with me, but Page's breakthrough performance isn't in Juno, it's in An American Crime.

I have been waiting to see this film for over a year now because this is a case that has haunted me for years and I am very familiarized with the facts of the case. I finally got to see it's USA premiere on Showtime tonight. I was of course, like everyone else, blown away by Catherine Keener and Ellen Page's performance and was quite impressed with the caliber of talent in the entire cast. Everyone seemed to play off of each other very well and all seemed to handle the extremely difficult subject matter very maturely. There were just a few things that baffled me about the film:

Firstly, the soundtrack. Now I do understand that this was a 'period' piece set in the 1960's and that music from the 60's is appropriate but to me it is much more impactful to have no music at all, especially during some of the more hard to watch torture scenes. Some of the music did not seem to match what was going on on screen.

The other thing that baffled me was the 'dream sequence' toward the end that showed Sylvia actually escaping and reaching her parents and one of her torturers was helping her to escape. Yes I realize that this scene was added for more dramatic purposes and it was effective when it turned out to be an out-of-body experience for Sylvia but I really think they could have done without this scene and dealt more closely with the actual facts of this case.

Also, it seemed to me that the director was trying to portray Gertrude and Paula Baniszewski as almost sympathetic characters when in reality they were monstrous in their actions and merciless with their sadistic torment of this young woman. For example, Paula did hurt her hand while punching Sylvia and had to put it in a cast but in reality it did not end there because Paula used her cast to further beat Sylvia. Paula did not defend Sylvia against her mother and was in fact, in some ways, even more callous than her mother. An example of this would be the scalding baths that they gave Sylvia, which was not touched on in the film, but after these baths Paula rubbed salt into Sylvia's wounds.

Gertrude was much more active in the torture in reality and she showed absolutely no remorse or even recognition for her actions until many years later at her parole hearing when she was finally released. The only person who actually did show even the slightest bit of mercy towards Sylvia during her ordeal was Stephanie, a fact that is not touched on in the film.

I can certainly understand why the producers would choose to leave out certain specifics of the tortures that Sylvia endured because they do not feel that an audience would believe it however, if you are going to make a film like this I believe it is essential to let the viewers know the full extent of the torture she endured. Viewers need to know that after the 'church dinner' that is shown in the film Sylvia was forced to eat a hot dog with everything on it and consume her own vomit because Gertrude thought that she made a pig of herself at the picnic and NOT because she met a boy at the picnic as the film portrays.

Certain specifics of the Baniszewski's everyday life were also omitted. I believe these are important elements to the case. If you are going to try to portray Gertrude as some sort of desperate housewife who was stricken by poverty and caved in to her own inner fury than the viewers need to see that the Baniszewski household had no phone, no stove (just a hot plate), and that it's kitchen drawers had only 1 spoon. Also, a vital example of just what sort of person Gertrude is would be to let the viewers know that, while the children slept on dirty, urine soaked mattresses (and there were not enough of these for all of the occupants in the home) Gertrude had a complete bedroom set in her room.

Ordinarily I would not stress these facts so heavily but the producers of this film would like to lead the viewer to believe that it is based entirely on fact and they stress that with a disclaimer at the beginning of the film and while I do realize that for dramatic purposes certain things had to be added and deleted it should not dilute the fact that a young woman was murdered in a cold, calculating, maniacal manner the likes of which had never been heard of before and that there is absolutely no room for sympathy for her torturers especially Gertrude and Paula. Regardless of these facts, I personally feel that films like this are vital viewing because they touch on subject matters that people generally do not talk about. If more people talked about them perhaps a life could have been spared here. Kudos to the director for taking on this subject matter and to Keener, Page and the rest of the cast for having the courage to take on such a horrific topic.

In 1965, in Indianapolis, Indiana, the teenager Sylvia (Ellen Page) and her fragile sister Jennie Faye Likens (Hayley McFarland) befriend the children of the single mother Gertrude Baniszewski (Catherine Keener) in the church. Their parents Lester (Nick Searcy) and Betty Likens (Romy Rosemont) offer twenty dollars per week to the dysfunctional and needy Gertrude to lodge and take care of their daughters while they work in a traveling Carnival. When Gertrude's daughter Paula (Ari Graynor) tells in confidence to Sylvia that she is pregnant of a married man called Bradley (Brian Geraghty), Sylvia defends Paula against her lover disclosing the secret and their neighbor Ricky Hobbs (Evan Peters) overhears the argument. Sooner the rumor spreads in the high-school and neighborhood of Paula, who tells her mother that Sylvia is gossiping against her. The sadistic and evil Gertrude decides to punish Sylvia in her descent to hell.

First of all, I must confess that "An American Crime" disturbed me. Based on the true story of a hideous crime judged in April 1966, this movie discloses the story of a poor girl that was abused, tortured, humiliated and killed by a dysfunctional and despicable family of monsters and their non-different friends. In spite of being a drama, this movie is scarier than most of the horror movies because it is simple and real, therefore credible; and recommended for very specific audiences. The future star Ellen Page, the always excellent Catherine Keener and the novice Tristan Jarred give performances that worth nominations to the Oscar. The screenplay beginning in the trial of Gertrude Baniszewski uses flashback to tell the sad story of Sylvia Likens keeps the attention until the very last scene; Ellen Page's character is charismatic and sweet while Gertrude and their children, their friends and even Jennie for her omission and fear are despicable monsters. Again, I am fan of horror genre but I was emotionally shaken with Sylvia Likens' fate. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Um Crime Americano" ("An American Crime")

This is the reportedly accurate re-telling of true events as they occurred in the state of Indiana during autumn of the year 1965. Sylvia Likens, a 16-year-old girl, is found dead in the house of mentally unstable Gertrude Baniszewski and her seven children. During the trial it becomes transparent that Gertrude locked the up in the basement following a banal incident, abused and humiliated her and – most shockingly of all – encouraged her own children and the neighborhood kids to physically torment her as well.

The review starts off with a sad and semi off-topic note. Despite the title and the timing of the real events, the crime isn't a typically American one and it certainly isn't aligned to a certain time era. How incredible and incomprehensible it may sound, a similar type of inhumanly cruel crime became exposed earlier this year 2008 in Austria. In this horrifying case, a father kept his own daughter imprisoned in a basement for no less than 24 years and sexually abused her the entire long time.

They say that facts often surpass fiction and that some of the real-life crimes we hear about on the news every day are far more horrific and grueling than anything that could ever spawn from the over-imaginative minds of scriptwriters. This theory is most certainly applicable when talking about these sorts of crime-cases. As a viewer, you can't but feel immediately involved with the characters and you continue to hope for their rescue, even though you know it won't come. Writer/director Tommy O'Haver masterfully illustrates the events in his film. He uses a sober, atmospheric and chilling narrative where testimonies in the trial are altered with extended flashbacks taking place in the Baniszewski household. At first you automatically feel sympathy for Gertrude. She's heavily ill, abandoned by several men already and barely makes enough money to feed all her children. However, she gradually turns into a manic-depressive and completely unreasonable monster and by the end of the film – when she denies everything on trial whilst keeping a straight face – she will have become one of the most hated individuals in your life. This particular transformation is brilliantly portrayed in the film, of course primarily thanks to the amazing and unbelievably versatile actress Catherine Keener who delivers one of the most astounding performances ever. The nature of Baniszewski's crimes is already impossible to understand, but the utmost incomprehensible aspect about the case remains the naivety of her "unaware" accomplices. Numerous young people from various age categories joined Gertrude in slowly murdering the poor and defenseless Sylvia. Ellen Page also delivers a mesmerizing performance as Sylvia. After "Juno" and especially "Hard Candy" this is already the third time she literally perplexes me with her acting talents and, considering her young age, I'm pretty sure she will do again many times after this. O'Haver also masterfully recreates the grim and almost depressing ambiance of the struggling mid-60's era in Indiana, with exact period details (like vehicles, costumes, carnivals…) and dazzling contemporary music. The brilliant soundtrack contains classics like Lesley Gore's "You Don't Own Me", Van McCoy's "Baby I'm Yours" and "Downtown" by Petula Clark. It's a nearly perfect motion picture about a sadly depressing real life tragedy.

http://eattheblinds.blogspot.com/

Not many films make me feel sick to my stomach and not many make me feel such a profound sadness that I'm helpless to do anything but cry. An American Crime chronicles the startling and horrific events that led to the death of sixteen year old Sylvia Likens. The story we're told comes directly from the court transcripts in the case of Baniszewski vs. The State of Indiana. As the story unfolds we slowly spiral from a normal, small town world populated with youthful innocence to one of absolute and inexplicable horror.

The story of the events that led up to Likens' death is short and tragic, with many people to fault, including her own parents and sister. Her parents negligently entrusted her and her little sister's care to a woman they had only met once. This woman, Gertrude Baniszewski, was mother to a brood of children and accepted Sylvia and her sister into her home for the simple fact that she needed the money the Likens were offering. But Baniszewski wan't fit to care for the Likens' daughters and within a few months, Sylvia had become the victim of Gertrude's escalating abuse. Sylvia eventually became a prisoner in Baniszewski's basement for an excruciating 27 days, where she was abused and tortured by Baniszewski, her children and also a number of other neighborhood children. How could this have happened? How could so many people be involved in such a horrible crime? How could her own sister not have gone to the police before it was too late?

After Sylvia died as a result of her beatings, Baniszewski's was found guilty of her crimes and sentenced to life in prison. Her children and the others involved were also found guilty and sentenced, each one eventually serving two years in prison. While Baniszewski's crimes are unforgivable, the thing I personally found most disturbing was how her example led to her children's and the other children's acts of cold, cruel, brutality.

The world we are introduced to in AAC is not sensational, on the contrary, it is simple, ordinary, common and comfortable. The production design and cinematography work in harmony, lulling the viewer into believing they are witness to a more innocent time and place and as the story builds the Norman Rockwell veneer slowly begins to chip away until it is displaced by a world of suffocating doom. The resulting effect is that AAC gets under our skin and disturbs us in a profound way since these crimes could have been committed in our neighborhood, by our neighbors and possibly by people we knew and trusted. Most disturbing of all is the realization these crimes could have involved us.

It would be easy to demonize Baniszewski and all the others involved in Likens death, but writer/director Tommy O'Haver chooses to humanize them instead. In doing so their horrible acts of abuse and torture linger and beg the recurring question: how could they have done this? When we see the faces of the children in court, we don't see the faces of psychopaths, we see innocent children with no explanation for their actions. Only Baniszewski herself comes across as a detached, delusional and remorseless criminal and Catherine Keener has to be applauded for somehow managing to add complexity and insight to someone guilty of such crimes. Keener's subtle performance aside, the standout in this movie is Ellen Page who breaks our heart when we watch her stripped of her innocence.

Before AAC, Page drew raves for her performances in Hard Candy and Juno. In both those films she played a precocious, smart assed hipster who had the world on the tip of her little finger. The subsequent backlash that came from the ridiculously over hyped phenomena of Juno called into question Page's ability to play anything other than what she herself seemed to be: a precocious, smart assed hipster with the world on the tip of her finger. I too doubted her ability to do much else, but after watching ACC, I'm now eating my doubt for lunch. Page plays Likens as a sensitive, kind and considerate sixteen year old and when the world comes crashing down upon her, the suffering she endures is heartbreaking and convincingly rendered by Page. I'm sure few would agree with me, but Page's breakthrough performance wasn't in Juno, it was in An American Crime.

RIP Sylvia Likens 1949-1965

In the summer of 1965, the Likens family moved to suburban Indiana. The parents were traveling circus carnies who were just called back out. Wanting their daughters to stay grounded, they entrusted the two children to recently acquainted Gertrude Banisewski and her seven children. Gertrude had been through a lot and started abusing the two Likens girls roughly a week after their arrival. Sylvia was the older Likens girl who became the target and patsy for Gertie's uncontrollable rage. She ordered her own children and the kids from the neighbourhood to torture Sylvia on a daily basis for hours. This isn't classical abuse or torture, what Sylvia endured is at a level all its own. Sylvia eventually died with with a select few feeling any grief or remorse. Gertie herself never felt any remorse and claims to have not remembered anything. Gertie got 20 years in prison, getting out on parole and died of cancer in 1990.

I became fascinated with this crime as it is something nobody can stop thinking about. You will want to wash your brain about with maximum Clorox to erase the memories of it. Having done extensive research and ready to see the film, although a tough pill to swallow, the film's finished product is an overly watered-down copout to the real case. I thought to myself: "Why doesn't Keener just give Page a bouquet of roses?"

The movie has a good narrative starting with the court trial and featuring the parts with Sylvia in flashback. The girls winding up with Gertie happened too soon as they should have talked more about the other Likens children living with other relatives. We get to see how stressful the Banisewski house is and it is well done. When the abuse starts, that is when the movie really spirals downwards. The money Mr. & Mrs. Likens was paying Gertie was a day late in the mail, so Gertie explodes saying "I babysat you b****es for nothing!" and belted them. In the movie, Catherine Keener plays her as a calm, understanding sympathetic person who is on the brink. The belting scene was awful. Keener keeps this partially loving-to-her-children, integrity-filled exterior throughout the movie. Gertie was pure evil violent individual! The real Gertie was nothing like Keener's performance!

The case is notorious for the period when Sylvia was locked in the basement. Sylvia accidentally started a rumour that the eldest daughter was pregnant which is what led to her being captive in the basement. She gets neighbour kid, Ricky, to brand on Sylvia's stomach "I'm a Prostitute and Proud of It!" on her stomach and the number 3 on her chest while forcing the other kids to watch. This is the only powerful scene in the movie as well as the one the comes closest to capturing the essence of what really happened. With the kids beating her senselessly, getting raped and burned, the movie barely shows any of it. What they do show lasts for just a few seconds and really watering down the results of them all. Nothing wrong with lightening the load, but a case like this deserves much higher accuracy than is presented.

So aside from things being watered down, there were too many things that were left out that needed to be presented. I mentioned the other Likens kids, Gertie's parole, Mr. & Mrs. visiting, the list goes on of things missing.

The acting it this isn't even that good either. Ellen Page is good, the girl who plays her sister is good, Keener is awful, and James Franco sucks. The only actor that gave a performance equivalent to the magnitude required is the prosecutor. Nobody else.

Do yourself a favour and skip this. Read up on the case, but stay away from this bashful piece of trash.

1/4

"An American Crime" tells the unsettling story of Sylvia Likens.The girl was tortured to death by Gertrude Baniszewski,her children and other children from their neighborhood.Her parents,carnival workers,had left Sylvia and her sister Jenny in the care of the Baniszewski family three months before her death in exchange for twenty dollars a month.Her torture and murder were described by the prosecutor in Baniszewski's trial as "the most terrible crime ever committed in the state of Indiana".Unlike the recent adaptation of Jack Ketchum's horrific novel "The Girl Next Door" "An American Crime" follows this shocking story more closely.It uses the actual court transcripts to paint the gloomy and horrific portrait of true human depravity.The film is not as disturbing as "The Girl Next Door",but some scenes are quite upsetting and hard to watch for example when the words are being burned into Sylvia's skin.The use of suggestive violence is a wise choice.Ellen Page's leading performance is utterly believable,unfortunately the portrayal of Gertie is disappointing.She was a cruel and manipulative monster without compassion and empathy.Still I liked this film.8 out of 10.

AN American CRIME is a problematic little reenactment of a real criminal case of child abuse dating back to 1965. The story is horrifying and while the film places the facts in our faces, the impact of the film is out of focus. This is due to the script that elects to glaze over the motivational aspects of a brutal crime in favor of attempting to investigate fully the mindset of both the perpetrator and the victims. Were it not for some sterling performances by Catherine Keener and Ellen Page this film might be easily dismissed: the strength of these actresses to overcome a weak script and manage to involve us is much to their credit as artists.

Indiana, 1965, and Gertrude Baniszewski (Catherine Keener) is a 'borderline' single mother of several children who is asked to take care of Sylvia (Ellen Page) and Jennie Likens (Hayley McFarland) while the girls parents remain on the road as carnies, promising to send checks to help support their farmed out children. Gertrude is a woman of loose morals who adds babies to her large family during liaisons with young men like the itinerant Dennis (James Franco). Gertrude takes in laundry to support her household and requires her young children to work toward the same goal. A friction develops between Sylvia and Jenny and the children by Gertrude's illicit adventures as well as covert sexual similarities surfacing in her children and at 'family meetings' Gertrude doles out punishment for Sylvia - punishment including cigarette burns, coke bottle insertions, branding etc. - all of which are undeserved and eventually lead to Sylvia's imprisonment in the basement where Gertrude and her children and their friends daily torture Sylvia. Eventually Sylvia dies and Gertrude and family are brought to court for charges of first-degree murder and variations thereof. The court proceedings (under the leadership of lawyer Leroy K. New played by Bradley Whitford) provide the story drivers as each allegation is then acted out by flashbacks until the verdicts are reached.

Catherine Keener is superb as the deranged, maladaptive Gertrude and Ellen Page adds yet another feather to her cap in a role that in another actor's hands could have been over the top. Writer/director Tommy O'Haver (the script was written with the aid of Irene Turner) does manage to show us the facts of this atrocity yet fails to go inside the characters to give us the psychobiographies this film has the potential for illuminating. It may well repel some viewers, but it does bring to the forefront a crime that is all too common in this country.

Grady Harp

First things first, 'An American Crime' is not for everyone. Even stern stomachs will feel sick with upset and aggression during this film. It isn't pleasant and being based on a true story just makes the whole picture worse. However, this film is incredibly important. The horrific case of Sylvia Likens is not particularly well known in the UK which is sad but this film drums in to the viewer just how evil and sadistic Likens death was at the hands of Gertrude Baniszewski. The film tells the tale of Sylvia (Ellen Page) and her younger sister Jennie Faye (Hayley McFarland) moving into the Baniszewski household after their parents Lester (Nick Searcy) and Betty (Romy Rosemont) Likens have to extend their work as Carnival workers in the state of Indianapolis. The film then tales the true tale of horror upon Sylvia committed by Gertrude (Catherine Keener) and her evil children.

As I said earlier, this film really is hard-going, it packs a punch that most horror or psychological thrillers lack, quite possibly because this is entirely based on true events rather than a fictitious narrative. It leaves the viewer with continuous emotions towards the Likens girls, especially Sylvia. At some points, it seems almost unbearable to watch yet you just can't take your eyes off the screen. Page delivers once again magnificently, she really helps us build that all important 'audience-character' bond that's needed in this picture to truly understand it. She exposes raw and powerful talent in this film, almost like she is actually going through the same agony and despair as Sylvia Likens really did, she is painfully convincing and yet again, she fails to disappoint.

Keener is also exceptionally good as Gertrude. Her performance really touches a nerve within the audience, making us loathe her even more each second she is on the screen. I was also surprised just how good the child actors and actresses are in this film. McFarland is just grand as Jennie, her life is so mixed, she wants to defend Sylvia but is petrified of what will happen to her if she does and her performance really makes this point clear.

All in all, 'An American Crime' is brilliant, it builds towers or tension, emotion and aggression. This is the first film that's ever made me cry. This is a great film that should be seen by all but due to it's content, probably won't be.

An American Crime is based on the true story of the murder of Sylvia Likens. The acting in the movie was superb, in particular Ellen Page and Catherine Keener. Had this been a fiction story, then the plot and characterization would be nothing short of fantastic. However, this was NOT a fiction story and what is glaringly obvious about this film is how the writers have downplayed how evil and demented Gertrude Baniszweski truly was. The story does not cover most of the brutal torture Sylvia endured on a random basis (before she was trapped in the basement). For example, in reality Gertrude had a fondness for kicking Sylvia in the crotch to the point where Sylvia's autopsy showed a shattered pubic bone.

This movie, instead, tries to portray a troubled, yet at times sympathetic, Gertrude. I don't agree with how the viewer is made to sympathize with Gertrude and to not view her not as a monster, but as a semi-normal person who was, for reasons of poverty, frustration and fear of society's judgment of her children, driven to commit this heinous crime. I know the director was trying to avoid over the top sensationalism with this story, but if you read the accounts of what ACTUALLY happened in this case, you will find this movie to be quite a dulled down version. All in all, it's worth viewing.

Granted this movie is a hard one to watch. But also it is a movie that should not be turned away from. Evil resonates and damn near triumphs. Tommy O'Haver directs and shares writing with Irene Turner. Based on a true story that shows child abuse is a crime that should not be ignored. Ellen Page is masterful in her heartbreaking portrayal of Sylvia Likens, an attractive teenager, who with her sister Jennie(Hayley McFarland)are left in the charge of a suburban housewife Gertrude Baniszewski(Catherine Keener). Gertrude already overly stressed with trying to raise her own brood on little of nothing, agrees to care for the Likens; but uses Sylvia as the target of her wrath. Instead of punishing her own children there was Sylvia to endure the punishment. She was imprisoned in the dank basement of that two story house and was burnt by cigarettes, kicked, branded with hot wire and humiliated not only by Baniszewski and her children, but also neighborhood children who had free will to help in the torture.

This movie is very hard to get out of your mind. Page and Keener are stellar. Also in the cast: Ari Graynor, Scout Taylor-Compton, Bradley Whitford, Michael Welch and Michael O'Keefe. The soundtrack is not as harsh and downbeat as the story. Tunes from the likes of Petula Clark, Leslie Gore, Barbara Lewis and Chard & Jeremy.

Although obviously the title does give away a bit of what might happen in the film, it does not prepare you for what you'll eventually see. Another user stated it good, when he said, that it's important to see it, even if you have a hard time stomaching it. It's not your typical fairy tale movie, not even close to that. By the time the end credits roll, you will feel anger, pain and maybe even numbness. And maybe other things too, that I haven't mentioned ... Why watch it anyway (if you haven't already)? And if you haven't, again the warning, the next paragraph is filled with spoilers!

Because it does show human nature in it's most despicable way possible. I just hated most of the characters on screen, for either being passive or (sometimes) active ... the most disturbing scene (apart from the death scene), is the scene, where the main character gets beaten by every guest that comes into the house ... I cringed while I watched this ... It's almost unbearable, not for what it shows on screen (it's not really explicit as some other recent movies are), but more psychological ... There are no words to describe the movie properly, but you have to be aware, this isn't meant to be a fun ride ...

"An American Crime" was a disturbing movie about the evil within all of us. The most horrific part is that a group of people could have performed such torture to an innocent human being because they were following the commands of an imbalanced woman. It was directed by Tommy O'Haver, who also directed "Ella Enchanted." You wouldn't be able to tell by watching this film. It was a rendition of a shocking true story that occurred in the 1960's where a suburban mother tortured and murdered a 16-year old girl. It stars Ellen Page ("Juno," "X-Men) and Catherine Keener ("Being John Malkovich", "The 40 Year Old Virgin") as the main characters.

The actors did an amazing job in bringing to light this crime that is horrifying even in today's standards. Page was believable as the ill-fated Sylvia Likens. She was very innocent and likable, and this is coming from someone who usually can't stand her acting. When she was being tortured, I believed in the pain and suffering that the real Likens probably endured. Keener played Gertrude Baniszewski with such precision that it was eerie to watch. I researched the crime, and saw the real pictures of the two women, and they were perfectly cast.

It is disgusting that humans are so easily swayed to cause such destruction to one human being. Baniszewski's children didn't bother me because they were brainwashed by this sick woman. The neighborhood children are the ones that shocked me the most. They were evil to come to this house every day to torture this girl. You have to wonder how they were raised to have committed such an act. Maybe it's true that all of us have a bit of good and evil inside us. Caging and torturing another being is probably the most evil thing that someone can do, and maybe this brought out that side out of them. It makes me even sadder that her sister didn't do anything to stop the crime. She says she was frightened. However, seeing your sister hurt in that way didn't prompt you to talk to you one of your teachers or another adult about what was going on? In the real story, she did talk to an older sister of hers about what was going on. The older sister contacted Child Protective Services. Nevertheless, when they arrived, they were told that Sylvia had runaway, and her sister verified the story. I have never been put in that position, but I would never allow someone to harm my two sisters in any way.

I still can't stop thinking about this movie a day after watching it. It's definitely a movie to watch. I don't think I could watch it again because it was too disturbing, but I'm glad that I watched it.

VERY MINOR SPOILERS FOLLOW.

This is an excellent film, if very hard to watch. And hard to watch it definitely is. Sporting a great cast and made under equally great direction, it is the subject matter alone that creates the horror. Some reviewers have called this a horror film, and while that description is usually reserved for creature features and all sorts of "scary movies", this is a true horror film. It isn't scary but it makes you terribly uneasy. It isn't gruesome in the traditional sense of cinematic gruesomeness (gore, blood and such) but I nevertheless had to stop the film twice while watching it. Mostly because I had to cool myself down as to not punch something. Never has a movie made me so angry - the majority of characters in this are so unspeakably shallow, self-important and false that they make you want to grab them by the shoulders and shake them. The incredibly evil double standards employed by Gertrude Baniszewski stand against every logical human decision, every kind of understanding. The case of Sylvia Likens may be one of the most depressing and disturbing cases in human legal history. Firstly because of the utter cruelty and mercilessness of the perpetrators and secondly because of the grave indifference of the environment - scenes of neighbors saying "Best to stay out of it" are as worse as the scenes depicting the torture going on at the same time. Interspersing the flashbacks (which make up the bulk of the film) with scenes from the courtroom was a gracious decision by the director because they provide some form of escapement. In the courtroom scenes, one can be sure to be in a place of order, of justice and normality, whereas the scenes at the Baniszewski home are practically hell. A place of random punishment, irrationality and torture from which there is no escape - the most horrifying thing I could think of. What begins as short bursts of corporal punishment soon turns into an insane marathon of self-justice and immoral judgment. Sylvia Likens bears the punishment for another person's entire ruined life and essentially pays for that person's - Gertrude Baniszewski - faults. I can safely say that this was one if not the most terrifying film I have ever seen. It gets full marks for cast, direction, art direction and music. But it certainly isn't for everyone.

If this movie were purely based on fiction, it would still be excellent, with great acting from a superb cast, and competent direction and screen writing. In that case, its job would be a lot easier, however---fictitious characters, and the things that drive them and move them to the actions that propel the plot, need to be explained and portrayed only to the point that we are willing to suspend whatever disbelief remains, and to embark and go along for the ride.

But the events depicted in this movie are true, if anything, they are understated. As the unbelievable and at times unbearable cruelty and hypocrisy unfolds before our eyes, we want to know how this senseless, purposeless, meaningless crime could have happened, we want to know "why." Of course, we will never really know the answer, but this movie gives it a shot, and with some success. Keener has the difficult job of portraying a monstrous character in a way that let's us get an insight into "her side" of the story, no matter how sick, wrong, confused, and depraved it may be. There are times when we might even feel a degree of empathy for that creature---an enormous feat for Keener, considering that her character is a woman who tortured and murdered a defenseless child given into her care, for no particular reason whatsoever. The choice of Keener for this role has been criticized on the grounds that she is too attractive compared to woman she plays, but to me it seems that this is a good thing, and an example of downplaying some less important aspects of the real case, to help us get access to its essence. Making her look less repulsive than the real Gertrude makes it easier for us to get in touch with her, and to care at least a little about her.

Sylvia, the victim, is played by Page, who runs the gamut from carefree teenager to resignated torture victim, and adds another top-notch performance to her already impressive resume. Her character does not have to explain quite as much as Keener's, but there are still some open questions we want to have answers to---why did she submit for as long as she did, why did she not run away, or resist in some other manner? The supporting cast, though mostly young, turns in some excellent work, as well. The performances of McFarland, Graynor, and Peters are the ones that stick in my mind after watching this film, depicting traits and character arcs that would not be out of place in Lord of the Flies.

I wanted to give this film 9/10, basically to save some headroom in case something even more impressive came along. But what am I holding out for? This film is taking me on a roller coaster ride into human depravity, its cast does a great job at offering haunting attempts to explain that which cannot reasonably be explained, and as the credits rolled I was left bewildered, incredulous, outraged, sad --- what more can cinema do?

I was at the world premiere of this film at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. I read the blurb in the program book, but had no clue what I was in for. The film starts out with a girl talking. After you watch the film you realize, it is a dead girl talking. I had no idea who Sylvia Likens was much less what she had endured as an abused 16 year old until I saw this film. Ten to twenty minutes into the film I could feel several knots in my stomach and an exhorbitant amount of rage because of the images I was watching. This film is heavy and hard to watch. So heavy that chaos errupted in the movie theatre when an audience member, who sat behind me, collapsed. This was not an elderly person I might ad. He, yes "HE" was probably between 25-28. At first I heard people whispering that an elderly lady suffered a heart attack, then people started to scream for the lights to be turned on and for the projectionist to stop the film. The lights were turned on and the film was stopped. It almost seemed like someone had placed a bomb in the theatre because people where heading for the exit, others where frightened and did not know what to do, and others just sat in their chair waiting for the film to continue. Of course, the next day, this was the talk of the town. Back to the film. I have never seen a girl tortured in the ways Sylvia had. I love disturbing films... I watch French film all the time...but I have never seen anything like this. And I must say, after watching the film, I went back to my condo to look up the case on the internet and must report that the film is not exploitative. As a matter of fact, it places the events quiet mildly compared to what really happened. Even though this movie is very unpleasant to watch, it is important every American and foreigners alike watches this film so they will never forget what children are exposed to when abused. How little power they have and how they really depend on their caretakers to "take care" of them until they reach an age they can fend for themselves. We hear these cases on television almost every day of a child being abducted. But in this case, the child was not abducted, she, Sylvia, and her sister were abandoned by her parents. I believe her parents got off easy. I was so filled with rage, both her parents deserved the same torture and faith Sylvia did. They made the conscious choice of bringing this girl into the world and they'd dumped her off to strangers. I'm sure they never imagined what would happened to their daughter. A lot for this case is to blame for the times they lived in. Apparently Indiana and other mid west areas where evangelical and believed in corporal punishment in those days and when they heard the torturous screams of Sylvia neighbors just thought she was getting what she deserved by being a bad girl. In there eyes she was being "corrected". Besides the sick lady that took care of Sylvia, the seven children that lived with her unfortunately did not know any better as they too join in the torture fest as they called upon other neighborhood kids to have fun with Sylvia by torturing her. I read on the internet that a few of the neighborhood kids to helped torture Sylvia are still alive and kicking today. One is 58 years old, he was 15 at the time, and apparently just recently lost his job after word about this film and his involvement in the case turned up. I hope this film helps to shed light to all of those crud of the earth who are still left on this earth living who tortured that girl when they were young and stupid so they will never forget what they did. I hope someone will always recognize them walking on the street to remind them how much of a low life and human waste of a person they are. They may be the brothes, now fathers, loving husbands and whatever else...but they will never stop being monsters rooted in evil who destroyed a spirit for their amuzement. Too bad they can't be tried again, but there is always the judge and jury of public opinion which Im sure as long as we know who you are, you will always be reminded of your heinous crimes. I applaud the filmmaker and actors for making such as exquisite, well acted, directed and visually engaging film. Hopefully after you have seen this film, you too will never forget Sylvia.