It's my consistent point of view. The most shocking thing about a movie is often not the magnificent and ups and downs of the plot, but after deducting all the incredible things, it tells you that everything comes from the truth.
The film is about a child abuse case that took place in the real world in 1965. Cruel, ruthless, indifferent, all the cold emotions are reflected in a visual way. Although there are not many violent and bloody scenes, the progress of things in the movie that you can't expect anyway, makes people feel chills in the hot summer. .
Apart from the unbelievable plot, what impresses me most about this film is that almost every character is so ordinary and can be seen everywhere in real life. But under the stimulation of certain factors, they can show the ugliness of human nature that is completely out of control. We can use psychology to analyze each person's behavior and the reasons behind it, we can put ourselves in any of these roles, and we will even come to the conclusion that if we were in this situation, it might be even worse.
For example, the mother played by Kathryn Keener shows the misfortune and indisputableness of almost all the miserable women in her: the girl got married at an early pregnancy, and then her husband ran away. nursing child. Worst of all, the youngest child belongs to her young concubine, a punk who only knows how to get a bargain with her without paying.
I was so sad when I saw the punk traded a sex session for the $20 she had made so deliberately. He could slap her anytime and comfort her with a kiss, she just endured, yearning for the occasional little warmth to get through most of the rest of the dark days.
She may not even know the reason for her misfortune, only to prevent her own children from having the same outcome. So when the news of her eldest daughter's pregnancy out of wedlock also came out, she felt that her life was completely shattered. Why does fate keep doing a vicious circle with her, she doesn't care, she just complains, gets angry, punishes the wrong child, and deeply angers the outsider who first learned of her daughter's pregnancy - Sylvie, a foster girl in her home Asia.
In her drowsy and weak mind, it didn't matter what she did to Sylvia: what was the physical punishment, how could it compare to the mental pain she had suffered in her life? Especially every time worse news came, and she couldn't control the direction of things, she could only resent Sylvia even more, put all her anger on her, and heal herself with the thrill of punishment.
That night, I was alone in the bedroom watching a movie, looking at this sad and hateful mother, I couldn't help thinking of the female nurse in "Ten Days of Dangerous Love". Gosh, how do you know what else she's going to do next?
Another image that gave me lingering fears was Sylvia's sister in the film. She was placed in foster care with her sister, and her body became weak and weak due to polio. When she was in trouble, Sylvia would stand up, but when her sister was abused, she just watched, cried silently, and didn't dare to say a word.
In times of war or despotism, there are countless such mortals who, intimidated by power, become accomplices of violence against their will. However, what is even more tragic is that when the critical moment passes, they lose the external threat and endure the condemnation of their conscience. For the silence of that moment, they will pay a lifetime of inner peace.
There are many more children, friends, and neighbors of this family who, when they see others being abused, instead of speaking out to help, they join in and become part of the abuser for no reason. They treat Sylvia as a prop that can be tortured without considering legal responsibility at all. How like the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution, or the ordinary German people when Germany massacred the Jews.
How easy it is for people to show their worst in an environment where they think they don't need to take responsibility. Often at this moment, you find it difficult to convince yourself of the theory that human nature is inherently good.
As for Sylvia, the main character starring Ellen Page, she devoutly believes that everything will pass and that God will bless her suffering. Unfortunately, her resignation only ushered in a dismal end. The director arranged a warm plot near the end of the film. When the audience thought that Sylvia had finally escaped from the magic cave, they found that everything was just an imaginary. It turned out that human nature is really so sad that it cannot even reach a trace of its recovery.
In the final trial of the court, the helpless mother sat blankly in the dock. When all parties, including her children, convicted her, she insisted, no, I didn't. They are all lying. all. She always deceived herself with childish stubbornness, but unfortunately she thought she could deceive others too.
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