An American Crime (2007)

Director:

Tommy O'Haver

Writers (WGA):

Tommy O'Haver (written by) &
Irene Turner (written by)

Release Date:

7 December 2007 (Sweden)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

This has been the most terrible crime ever committed in the state of Indiana

Plot:

The true story of suburban housewife Gertrude Baniszewski, who kept a teenage girl locked in the basement of her Indiana home during the 1960s.

Plot Keywords:

Child Kidnapping | Poverty | Underage Smoking | American Midwest | Narration

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy.

Cast

Ellen Page	...	Sylvia Likens
Hayley McFarland	...	Jennifer Faye 'Jennie' Likens
Nick Searcy	...	Lester Likens
Romy Rosemont	...	Betty Likens
Catherine Keener	...	Gertrude Baniszewski
Ari Graynor	...	Paula Baniszewski
Scout Taylor-Compton	...	Stephanie Baniszewski
Tristan Jarred	...	Johnny Baniszewski
Hannah Leigh Dworkin	...	Shirley Baniszewski
Bradley Whitford	...	Prosecutor Leroy K. New
Michael O'Keefe	...	Reverend Bill Collier
Carlie Westerman	...	Marie Baniszewski
Michelle Benes	...	Hope Orbach
Patricia Place	...	Mrs. Doyle
Calvin Keet	...	Mr. Doyle

Also Known As:

The Basement (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong and disturbing depiction of child abuse and torture.

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Finland:K-15 | Sweden:15 | Germany:16 | Spain:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

First Look International

Trivia:

Most of the cast were completely unaware of the real Likens murder until after they read the script.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In a scene set in 1965, a character rushes into a phone booth and dials for an operator without inserting a coin. The free operator call feature was not instituted until many years later.

Quotes:

Shirley Baniszewski: I thought we were just teaching her.

Movie Connections:

Version of The Girl Next Door (2007)

Soundtrack:

Firewater

A harrowing and baffling account of an unimaginable 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.