An American Crime

A film about something that happened in America. Indiana, 1965. Two sisters, Sylvia and Jenny, are left with a woman named Gertrude Baniszewski while their parents travel with a carnival. She has children of her own and is short of money; she agrees for a weekly payment. A regime of violence takes hold in the house. Punishment first, then continuous mistreatment, and finally confinement in the basement. Her children and other young people from the neighbourhood become part of it. That is the film's most disturbing element: one person did not do this. Dozens of people knew and nobody stopped it. The narrative proceeds through testimony in the courtroom; events are given in flashback according to what witnesses say. Elliot Page plays Sylvia and Catherine Keener plays Gertrude; Keener was nominated for awards. Tommy O'Haver directed. The production rests on the real case records and court transcripts. A shattering example for anyone who likes drama based on real events. Before you watch, know this: the film takes violence against a child as its direct subject and is very hard to watch.