A Not So Welcome Stranger
The Woodsman is a sharp, touching portrait of an ex-con who encounters both internal and external obstacles to putting his past behind him. That the character’s crime was pedophilia makes his struggle all the more dramatic and sometimes even uncomfortable to watch, and yet the film manages to make him sympathetic while not shying away from the unsavory compulsions that continue to haunt him.
Played with a haunted and faraway look by Kevin Bacon, Walter returns to live in Philadelphia after serving 12 years in prison for molesting young girls. He gets work in a lumberyard where he meets Vickie (Kyra Sedgwick), a tough, rebellious woman who becomes his lover and eventually stands by him even after she’s learned the truth about his past. At his weekly therapy sessions, Walter discusses his difficulties re-integrating himself into society and dealing with his still-present impulses, while he also faces the resentments and prejudices of both family members and co-workers. Paying periodic visits on Walter is a local detective played with understated menace by Mos Def. The film’s title refers both to Walter’s profession and to the hero in Little Red Hiding Hood, the woodsman who cuts open the wolf to save the little girl inside. In one of his monologues meant to disquiet Walter, the detective tells the story of an abducted girl who had been murdered and laments that there aren’t any woodsmen left in the world.
First-time director Nicole Kassell has a good feel for how to direct a movie like this, giving delicate scenes ample time to unfold between her actors, and using grainy film that amplifies the film’s feeling of oppression. Bacon gives a remarkable performance as a man who’s almost completely shut himself off from the world, while Sedgwick expertly combines toughness and vulnerability in her portrayal of Vickie. The movie also contains a remarkable acting performance by Hannah Pickles as a young schoolgirl that Walter attempts to seduce; at first, Pickles comes across as confident and self-possessed but later reveals a vulnerability that makes it all too easy to see how child molesters succeed in seducing their prey. The Woodsman is undoubtedly a challenging film to watch, but one that succeeds in showing us the humanity within people we usually think of as having none.
Played with a haunted and faraway look by Kevin Bacon, Walter returns to live in Philadelphia after serving 12 years in prison for molesting young girls. He gets work in a lumberyard where he meets Vickie (Kyra Sedgwick), a tough, rebellious woman who becomes his lover and eventually stands by him even after she’s learned the truth about his past. At his weekly therapy sessions, Walter discusses his difficulties re-integrating himself into society and dealing with his still-present impulses, while he also faces the resentments and prejudices of both family members and co-workers. Paying periodic visits on Walter is a local detective played with understated menace by Mos Def. The film’s title refers both to Walter’s profession and to the hero in Little Red Hiding Hood, the woodsman who cuts open the wolf to save the little girl inside. In one of his monologues meant to disquiet Walter, the detective tells the story of an abducted girl who had been murdered and laments that there aren’t any woodsmen left in the world.
First-time director Nicole Kassell has a good feel for how to direct a movie like this, giving delicate scenes ample time to unfold between her actors, and using grainy film that amplifies the film’s feeling of oppression. Bacon gives a remarkable performance as a man who’s almost completely shut himself off from the world, while Sedgwick expertly combines toughness and vulnerability in her portrayal of Vickie. The movie also contains a remarkable acting performance by Hannah Pickles as a young schoolgirl that Walter attempts to seduce; at first, Pickles comes across as confident and self-possessed but later reveals a vulnerability that makes it all too easy to see how child molesters succeed in seducing their prey. The Woodsman is undoubtedly a challenging film to watch, but one that succeeds in showing us the humanity within people we usually think of as having none.
posted by Captain Nemo at 2:31 PM
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