Now that I have watched this movie for the 2nd time I feel like there are some things that I need to express, and what better place than right here?
As I sit here pondering what I should start with or how to put what I feel into words, I find that all I can do is just keep typing to try and get it all out.
Not only is this movie based on the death of Sylvia Likens, but it just seems so real that you feel like you were in the home of Gertrude Baniszewski. I spend a minimum of 37 minutes of this film crying as I watch such terrible things happen. All I want to do is be the one kid who spoke up and did something, I want to be the one to save Sylvia, but I can't and neither could anyone else. And to me that may be the most frightening part of it all. It wasn't just the fact that Gertrude was crazy, but the neighbor kids knew this and instead of getting Sylvia help, they joined in on torturing her.
Is it human nature? Or are these kids just "scared". And that is a question that has no answer. Would kids in 2010 do the same thing as the kids did in 1965? Has the world really changed? Or are people always and forever stuck?
I knew there was a reason that I didn't like people, and I always thought it was just because people are rude, people judge (we all do it, even me), people are just plain annoying. But worst of all, people are unpredictable. You can never really tell what someone is capable of, and that is the scariest thing in the world. This is a big part of why I don't like people. All I can do is sit here and just think about how someone could do something so terrible to another human being. Everyone gets angry, and some may resort to violence. But to do what was done to Sylvia Likens is just unthinkable. And I am not talking about only Sylvia. Harming anyone in anyway is just wrong. And the people who do that, well I think there is no helping them. I believe that people like that having something wrong mentally that cannot be fixed.
I don't think I can ever clearly get out what is going on inside of my head. Frankly there is just a lot of stuff for me to sort through. But what I can say is that I wish I could have helped. Helped Sylvia and Jennie escape, save Sylvia's life. Usually films like this are tagged with "It's Only a Movie" like Wes Cravens "The Last House On The Left". But this is all true. Sylvia Likens was a real girl living with Gertrude Baniszewski.
And like David Kronke from the Los Angeles Daily News said, "Keener is chilling... Page is heartbreaking... Those who see it wont soon forget it". And this is true. This movie changes me as a person every time I think about it. After watching it I always feel different. This movie is one that I will never forget.
