The Woodsman (DVD)

I was hesitant to watch this movie. Especially given the seemingly nonstop litany of violent crimes committed by pedophiles in the past couple of years, one doesn't naturally gravitate toward a movie based upon a pedophile's attempt to reenter society. Most of us don't want to have and most likely cannot possibly have the least bit of sympathy for any child molester, but this issue is more complex than I for one would like it to be - and The Woodsman gives evidence to this fact. This is a movie people need to watch - it doesn't offer any real solutions, but it is extremely thought-provoking and can help us try to better understand the depths of what has become an epidemic preying on our children - and you can't solve a problem without understanding it first. It is important to note that the main character here is not a level-three sex offender; he's not a monster, just a man with a very severe problem - one that he is trying to overcome.
Walter (Kevin Bacon) has just been released from prison, having served twelve years for molesting young girls. We are never told exactly what his crimes involved, although he says he never hurt any of his victims. He was fortunate to find a job at a lumber mill and a place to live (although, most troublingly, his apartment is across the street from an elementary school). He sees a therapist every week and receives regular visits from a police detective, both of which are necessary because, no matter how much he wants to be normal, he still has terrible urges to fall back into his old ways. Society doesn't make it easy for him, as those who learn of his past shun him or threaten him with violence - everyone except Vicki (Kyra Sedgwick), who eventually comes to accept him as he is. Everyone else treats him like a monster - and, when his emotional crisis hits its crescendo, he is driven to the brink of becoming exactly the kind of monster everyone already thinks he is. There's no solution to this; society has to know about these people living amongst them, yet that widespread knowledge represents a brick wall in the subject's road to reform. Again, I'm talking about understanding, not sympathy, here. For any pedophile truly wanting to escape his urges and become normal, society as a whole offers an almost insurmountable challenge - that's just a fact.

Kevin Bacon does an incredible job here - as does young Hannah Pilkes, whose acting in a pivotal scene is on par with Bacon's own. Walter's problems are internalized for the most part, yet so much of what he goes through inside his own head communicates itself to the viewer through Bacon's nuanced performance. Walter does want to be normal, but it is incredibly difficult for him to get to that point when he is basically left completely on his own. His moments of weakness lead to some emotionally disturbing scenes (nothing graphic, of course - not even close); if you're not uncomfortable watching this movie, I would hope our paths never cross. Don't avoid the film just because it makes you uncomfortable, though. It's really a powerful story that culminates in an excellent ending - I won't describe it at all, but I must say it is really a fitting conclusion that builds upon the main character's struggles throughout the film.