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SUNDANCE 2007
An American Crime
"An American Crime" by Zack Roddy
Director Tommy O'Haver is not known as a dramatic filmmaker. With the films Get Over It, and Ella Enchanted under his belt, O'Haver seemed destined to make teen movies. Audiences did not expect An American Crime.
The film, which was co-written by O'Haver and Irene Turner, centers on the true story of thirty-seven year old suburban housewife Gertrude Baniszewski, and how she slowly tortured and eventually killed a young girl in the basement of her Indiana home in the mid 1960's. Portrayed with intensity and evil by Catherine Keener, Gertrude willingly boards Sylvia (Ellen Page) and Jennie (Hayley McFarland) Likens, whose parents are traveling carnies, for a fee of $20 a week. Already raising seven children of her own, Gertrude takes an immediate disliking to beautiful sixteen-year-old Sylvia, who she falsely accuses of telling lies, stealing, and promiscuity, eventually subjecting the girl to several forms of "punishment", including starvation, and physical abuse in ways of putting out lit cigarettes on her skin, branding, and beating, eventually locking her in the basement. Most disturbing is how Gertrude convinced the neighborhood children, including some of her own, to torture Sylvia as well, while she supervised. It was called the single most terrible crime ever committed in the state of Indiana.
With conviction and honesty, O'Haver leads his talented cast to the far reaches of human emotion, crafting startlingly believable characters that draw in the audience's attention and holding it throughout the entire film. The terrifying complexity of Gertrude clashing with the hope and innocence of Sylvia leaves the audience riveted throughout the film, are a credit given to Keener and Page, showing the mark of two extraordinary actresses. Another riveting element to the film was the superb script. O'Haver and Turner were allowed exclusive access to the court transcripts, making the film more realistic, and more horrifying than one could possibly imagine.
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