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Showtime to air film that chronicles death of girl in '60s Indiana
Published on Sunday, May 04, 2008
By Rich Heldenfels
The deeds done in An American Crime are horrible enough. What makes them more horrible are the smiles and laughter that sometimes accompanied them.
The terrifying film, which premieres at 9 p.m. Saturday on Showtime, is based on the story of Gertrude Baniszewski, a divorced mother who, in Indianapolis in 1965, beat and tortured a teenage girl she was supposed to be taking care of. Baniszewski even encouraged her children and others to join in the torture.
Baniszewski, now dead, was eventually convicted of first-degree murder. (She received a life sentence at first but was released after 18 years, even though people protested against any parole for her.) Baniszewski's daughter, Paula, was found guilty of second-degree murder; a Baniszewski son and two other young men were convicted of manslaughter.
Having seen the movie and read about the case, I would have fried them all.
Gertrude Baniszewski deserved no mercy, let alone sympathy, as did the others who exerted their violent will on a girl who for the most part accepted the treatment — perhaps because she accepted the idea that a grown-up had the right to punish her, perhaps because she saw no relief anywhere.
An American Crime excuses nothing. It calls itself ''an interpretation of events'' (with some fictionalizing and toning down of incidents). As an interpretation, it does try to understand why Gertrude would go to such extremes — what about her sorry life made her need to punish someone else to this degree. And in casting the effective and understated Catherine Keener as Gertrude, the movie forces us to consider how a woman who seems so ordinary could commit such monstrous acts.
No doubt her monstrosity will seem even more considerable to audiences because Ellen Page, so endearing as the star of Juno, plays Sylvia Likens, the 16-year-old who fell victim to Baniszewski. In An American Crime, Page has an almost constant look of incomprehension as mere punishment, unfair though it is, escalates into violence, captivity and torture.
Some of the worst scenes find Sylvia, trapped and immobile in the Baniszewski basement, while children amuse themselves with sundry abusive — though not sexual — acts against her body. As I said, the acts are horrible, but the emotional accompaniment is even worse. It is not only Gertrude who is incapable of seeing the evil in what she does; the young people are just as twisted and blind.
But, in the hands of writer-director and co-writer Tommy O'Haver (Ella Enchanted, Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss), is this film artful or sadistic? I lean, somewhat tentatively, toward art.
Yes, An American Crime is stomach-turning. And the personal burdens that lead to Gertrude's striking out are carried by many people who do not react in this extreme way. So I don't think we end up understanding her. But we do end up seeing how close to the surface such horrors can be in some people — even among people living in a quiet house in '60s Indiana.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal and in a blog at http://www.ohio.com. You can find more columns, questions and answers at http://www.ohio.com/entertainment/heldenfels.
By Rich Heldenfels
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