While everyone was watching Juno, Ellen Page was making a much more important film. Those who do not have a background in child abuse, will find this very disturbing. It is a horror film that displays what goes on all over America, and is not always noticed, or, if noticed, is not always reported.
The film stars Catherine Keener as a mother that is overwhelmed by the fact that she has a half dozen kids to feed and little money coming in. He husband is not providing support, and neither is the father of her last child. Have to supervise her brood with a drug problem (albiet a legal one), is overwhelming.
When she is unable to handle the fact that her eldest is getting out of control and following in her footsteps, she selects one of the girls she is caring for to scapegoat. In other words, this girl (Ellen Page) will bear the scars and marks that she can't place on her own children. She shifts the blame from her and her children to Sylvia. Sylvia soon becomes the target of all the neighborhood children, believing that they are "teaching her" to be good. The adults in the neighborhood hear the screams coming from the house as she is burned with cigarettes and branded with a hot wire, and turn the other way.
It is a hard film to watch, even for those of us who have seen the results many times. For those not exposed to this stain on America, it can be very traumatic. Be forewarned.
The film stars Catherine Keener as a mother that is overwhelmed by the fact that she has a half dozen kids to feed and little money coming in. He husband is not providing support, and neither is the father of her last child. Have to supervise her brood with a drug problem (albiet a legal one), is overwhelming.
When she is unable to handle the fact that her eldest is getting out of control and following in her footsteps, she selects one of the girls she is caring for to scapegoat. In other words, this girl (Ellen Page) will bear the scars and marks that she can't place on her own children. She shifts the blame from her and her children to Sylvia. Sylvia soon becomes the target of all the neighborhood children, believing that they are "teaching her" to be good. The adults in the neighborhood hear the screams coming from the house as she is burned with cigarettes and branded with a hot wire, and turn the other way.
It is a hard film to watch, even for those of us who have seen the results many times. For those not exposed to this stain on America, it can be very traumatic. Be forewarned.