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THE WOODSMAN
A dark yet completely riveting character study that had me holding my breath and fighting tears for most of its surprisingly economic running time, 2004's The Woodsman addresses a lot of very prickly issues, primarily how the process of criminal rehabilitation often doesn't work because most of the people who are supposed to support the process end up impeding it.
Walter is a pedophile who has just been released from jail after 12 years in prison and is attempting to start a new life. He has a job and is participating in what seems to be court-appointed therapy. Rehabilitation seems to be paramount to Walter, but there are temptations and roadblocks everywhere he turns: His new apartment is across the street from a grade school where little girls parade in and out all day; his brother-in-law tries to reach out to him even though his sister and her daughter want nothing to do with him; his daily bus ride finds him sitting just a few feet from a pretty 11-year old every day; a police detective is harassing Walter and trying to get him to slip up and worst of all, glancing out his window at the school, he sees a man who is trying to do the same thing with little boys that Walter was doing with little girls.
This movie just wreaked havoc with my emotions because Walter not only seems sincere about rehabilitation (he initially balks at his therapist's suggestion that he keep a journal but changes his mind) but has been severely damaged himself by 12 years in prison and we see him doing everything he is supposed to do. We also see people who intentionally or not so intentionally get in the way of the new life that Walter is trying to build for himself. When he spurns a co-workers advances, she outs him in front of the entire workplace; he attempts to seek some common ground with his brother-in-law with some real honesty which meets with a death threat and this police officer who wants to catch Walter doing wrong so badly that he can taste it. He does find the beginning of a relationship with another co-worker, who has her own troubled sexual past (which seemed a tad convenient), but it is clear that Walter's past has also severely affected his dealings with adult women. There are a lot of difficult issues here and no easy answers offered, though writer/director Nicole Kassell piles a lot on Walter's shoulders, there is nothing here that is not deeply and vividly realistic.
With a grand assist from Nicole Kassell, this film works primarily due to a stunning performance from Kevin Bacon as Walter, in the performance of his career that should have earned him an Oscar nomination. I have never seen Bacon lose himself in a character the way he does with Walter...he makes this character strong, frightening, and most of all, terribly sad. Bacon's real life wife, Kyra Sedgwick is solid as his love interest here and this is a case of a real life couple whose offscreen chemistry definitely translates onscreen. Mos Def is properly slimy as the police detective,loved Michael Shannon as Walter's therapist, and Benjamin Bratt as the brother-in-law. This is strong stuff and a must for Kevin Bacon fans...not an easy watch, but worth it.
A dark yet completely riveting character study that had me holding my breath and fighting tears for most of its surprisingly economic running time, 2004's The Woodsman addresses a lot of very prickly issues, primarily how the process of criminal rehabilitation often doesn't work because most of the people who are supposed to support the process end up impeding it.
Walter is a pedophile who has just been released from jail after 12 years in prison and is attempting to start a new life. He has a job and is participating in what seems to be court-appointed therapy. Rehabilitation seems to be paramount to Walter, but there are temptations and roadblocks everywhere he turns: His new apartment is across the street from a grade school where little girls parade in and out all day; his brother-in-law tries to reach out to him even though his sister and her daughter want nothing to do with him; his daily bus ride finds him sitting just a few feet from a pretty 11-year old every day; a police detective is harassing Walter and trying to get him to slip up and worst of all, glancing out his window at the school, he sees a man who is trying to do the same thing with little boys that Walter was doing with little girls.
This movie just wreaked havoc with my emotions because Walter not only seems sincere about rehabilitation (he initially balks at his therapist's suggestion that he keep a journal but changes his mind) but has been severely damaged himself by 12 years in prison and we see him doing everything he is supposed to do. We also see people who intentionally or not so intentionally get in the way of the new life that Walter is trying to build for himself. When he spurns a co-workers advances, she outs him in front of the entire workplace; he attempts to seek some common ground with his brother-in-law with some real honesty which meets with a death threat and this police officer who wants to catch Walter doing wrong so badly that he can taste it. He does find the beginning of a relationship with another co-worker, who has her own troubled sexual past (which seemed a tad convenient), but it is clear that Walter's past has also severely affected his dealings with adult women. There are a lot of difficult issues here and no easy answers offered, though writer/director Nicole Kassell piles a lot on Walter's shoulders, there is nothing here that is not deeply and vividly realistic.
With a grand assist from Nicole Kassell, this film works primarily due to a stunning performance from Kevin Bacon as Walter, in the performance of his career that should have earned him an Oscar nomination. I have never seen Bacon lose himself in a character the way he does with Walter...he makes this character strong, frightening, and most of all, terribly sad. Bacon's real life wife, Kyra Sedgwick is solid as his love interest here and this is a case of a real life couple whose offscreen chemistry definitely translates onscreen. Mos Def is properly slimy as the police detective,loved Michael Shannon as Walter's therapist, and Benjamin Bratt as the brother-in-law. This is strong stuff and a must for Kevin Bacon fans...not an easy watch, but worth it.