Word around town is that The Woodsman offers up Kevin Bacon’s best performance ever, and while that may be true I am not sure just how comfortable most audiences will be watching a film about a, recently released from prison, child molester.
While the subject matter may not be appealing and you may get a knot in your stomach watching a few scenes there is no doubt there is some really great talent on display here from every single cast member down to director Nicole Kassell as she presents her first feature film.
Walter (Bacon) finds himself in the real world after twelve years in prison. As a convicted sex offender,
Walter keeps to himself and goes about his job completely detached from the world around him. He struggles to cure himself as he asks his therapist when he will be “normal,” but living only yards away from an elementary school his will is beginning to bend.
His only release from his nightmare is a co-worker, Vickie (Sedgwick), a beautiful, yet tough, woman who is “not easily surprised,” and once she learns of Walter’s past she sets out to help shape his future.
From a filmmaking standpoint this movie is an absolute success as it neither paints the Walter character as simply a troubled and misunderstood individual, but also as a monster for the evil he has done. Audiences will find themselves in a position of sympathy at times, but ultimately disgust ends up overruling any sympathetic thoughts.
The Woodsman is in no way a light-hearted fare, this is a disturbing battle of emotions and morals that will surely move you while watching it, but you will want to wash yourself clean of the whole thing once it is over.
