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Review: Bastard Out of Carolina (1996)
By vrtualme | August 5, 2008
Last night I took the opportunity to watch a movie I’d heard about over the years. Bastard Out of Carolina (1996) is the story of the relationship between Ruth Anne ‘Bone’ Boatwright (Jena Malone - The United States of Leland 2003), her mother Anney Boatwright (Jennifer Jason Leigh - Georgia 1995) and her stepfather Glen Waddell (Ron Eldard in the role that launched his career). It’s a story of child abuse and molestation that’s often hard to watch, but almost worth it. I say “almost” because the end completely lost me. This film, based on the semi-autobiographic book by Dorothy Allison, is beautifully directed by Anjelica Huston (Oscar winning actress for Prizzi’s Honor 1985) and extremely well acted by a team of stars who put their everything into this production. But I just can’t believe on any level that a loving mother could witness her pre-teen daughter being beaten and raped, and still love the man who did it and go home with him. And on top of that the daughter forgives, and still loves, her mother after that unforgivable (in my mind) betrayal. There’s just no way for me to get my head around it. Watch it if you want, maybe you’ll understand it better than I did.