It wasn't so much that this small Wisconsin town turned on a school nurse who did nothing but deal with wild kids, it's that every single one of them did. There wasn't even a single person who was the least bit skeptical of Alice's guilt.
Alice Goodwin (Sigourney Weaver) and her husband Howard Goodwin (David Strathairn) lived on a Wisconsin farm with two daughters. One daughter, Emma (Dara Perlmutter), was the spawn of Satan. Obnoxious yelling, screaming "I hate you!", and breaking bowls of cereal were a regular part of her repertoire. I will be the bad guy and say that her being spanked or deprived of something she wanted could've been a good attitude adjustment device.
Alice and Howard had two friends with daughters as well, Theresa Collins (Julianne Moore) and Dan Collins (Ron Lea). Alice's life was flipped on its head when one of Theresa's daughters drowned while in her care. Alice sank into an irretrievable depression and things got worse. She was then charged with the inappropriate touching of a minor. A kid named Robbie (Marc Donato), with the help of his mother Carole (Chloe Savigny), accused Alice of doing unspeakable things to him. Alice was arrested and held on $100,000 bail.
It was at this point the entire town of Craphole, Wisconsin turned on Alice. What we learn is that Alice was a relative newcomer to the town, hence an outsider. Her husband was trying his hand at farming and she and the kids were along for the ride. Apparently, in small towns people will believe spurious things about you so long as it comes from the lips of an "insider" (a lifer, a townie). And the more despicable the easier to believe.
While Alice was living it up in jail her husband and Theresa got a little too cozy. They didn't quite sleep together, but they did passionately kiss which seemed wholly unnecessary. As Theresa was trying to help out Howard and keep a semblance of normalcy for the three remaining girls you couldn't help but get the feeling that there were going to be sparks between them. Hollywood is always good for making sparks between a man and a woman when they spend time together. Nevermind that this guy's wife, and her best friend, is in jail, they can't help but join lips. Theresa goes out of her way to let Howard (aka the audience) know that he's a good guy even after the kiss so that you moralistic viewers don't start having negative thoughts about this man who kissed his wife's best friend.
Though Alice's time in jail was no walk in the park, she still left forlornly. It was a scene that made me think, "maybe jail isn't all that bad." Then I think of real shows like "Lockdown" and remember that this is just a bad movie.
When Alice finally got to trial her lawyer put up a wonderful defense only to be kneecapped by his own client. Alice got on the stand and began sabotaging her own case. It was infuriating. In this overly sentimental fluff piece of a movie, Alice had to use the witness stand as her personal confession chambers and let the world know of her sins because they "make her human." When asked had she inappropriately touched Robbie, she said "Yes."
Why?
My first thoughts were that she wanted to go to prison and be someone's girlfriend as some form of atonement for letting the little girl drown. My second thought was that she simply lost her marbles and wasn't cognizant of reality. The reason she gave was that she had to "tell the truth." You see, she'd slapped Robbie before and that wasn't right. So she chose now, of all times, to reveal that information. She hadn't told her attorney before--in fact she hadn't told a soul--but when her freedom is on the line she decided to SPEAK THE TRUTH. It was a move that would drive any lawyer to throw up his hands and say, "Lock her up judge."
She further hurt her case by mentioning the drowning when the judge had already ruled that it was inadmissible. Again, refer to my first and second thoughts above as they were the same here. Her lawyer was understandably incensed. All the preparation he'd done and she just threw it in his face.
Because this is a feel good movie about "forgiveness" and redemption, and we have to have a happy ending, Alice was acquitted. She told the world the truth that no one asked for and it worked out for her. Sure, she had to leave the little backwards town in Wisconsin and move back to the city, but profound lessons had been learned and her family was now a better unit for it. Or so we should believe.
In the end Alice is better than all of us. She doesn't hit children, and the time she did she told the world when it could've cost her her freedom. We should love Alice and be like Alice. We should all risk our freedom for the sake of an irrelevant truth, because the truth should be told no matter what. Yay Alice.
Alice Goodwin (Sigourney Weaver) and her husband Howard Goodwin (David Strathairn) lived on a Wisconsin farm with two daughters. One daughter, Emma (Dara Perlmutter), was the spawn of Satan. Obnoxious yelling, screaming "I hate you!", and breaking bowls of cereal were a regular part of her repertoire. I will be the bad guy and say that her being spanked or deprived of something she wanted could've been a good attitude adjustment device.
Alice and Howard had two friends with daughters as well, Theresa Collins (Julianne Moore) and Dan Collins (Ron Lea). Alice's life was flipped on its head when one of Theresa's daughters drowned while in her care. Alice sank into an irretrievable depression and things got worse. She was then charged with the inappropriate touching of a minor. A kid named Robbie (Marc Donato), with the help of his mother Carole (Chloe Savigny), accused Alice of doing unspeakable things to him. Alice was arrested and held on $100,000 bail.
It was at this point the entire town of Craphole, Wisconsin turned on Alice. What we learn is that Alice was a relative newcomer to the town, hence an outsider. Her husband was trying his hand at farming and she and the kids were along for the ride. Apparently, in small towns people will believe spurious things about you so long as it comes from the lips of an "insider" (a lifer, a townie). And the more despicable the easier to believe.
While Alice was living it up in jail her husband and Theresa got a little too cozy. They didn't quite sleep together, but they did passionately kiss which seemed wholly unnecessary. As Theresa was trying to help out Howard and keep a semblance of normalcy for the three remaining girls you couldn't help but get the feeling that there were going to be sparks between them. Hollywood is always good for making sparks between a man and a woman when they spend time together. Nevermind that this guy's wife, and her best friend, is in jail, they can't help but join lips. Theresa goes out of her way to let Howard (aka the audience) know that he's a good guy even after the kiss so that you moralistic viewers don't start having negative thoughts about this man who kissed his wife's best friend.
Though Alice's time in jail was no walk in the park, she still left forlornly. It was a scene that made me think, "maybe jail isn't all that bad." Then I think of real shows like "Lockdown" and remember that this is just a bad movie.
When Alice finally got to trial her lawyer put up a wonderful defense only to be kneecapped by his own client. Alice got on the stand and began sabotaging her own case. It was infuriating. In this overly sentimental fluff piece of a movie, Alice had to use the witness stand as her personal confession chambers and let the world know of her sins because they "make her human." When asked had she inappropriately touched Robbie, she said "Yes."
Why?
My first thoughts were that she wanted to go to prison and be someone's girlfriend as some form of atonement for letting the little girl drown. My second thought was that she simply lost her marbles and wasn't cognizant of reality. The reason she gave was that she had to "tell the truth." You see, she'd slapped Robbie before and that wasn't right. So she chose now, of all times, to reveal that information. She hadn't told her attorney before--in fact she hadn't told a soul--but when her freedom is on the line she decided to SPEAK THE TRUTH. It was a move that would drive any lawyer to throw up his hands and say, "Lock her up judge."
She further hurt her case by mentioning the drowning when the judge had already ruled that it was inadmissible. Again, refer to my first and second thoughts above as they were the same here. Her lawyer was understandably incensed. All the preparation he'd done and she just threw it in his face.
Because this is a feel good movie about "forgiveness" and redemption, and we have to have a happy ending, Alice was acquitted. She told the world the truth that no one asked for and it worked out for her. Sure, she had to leave the little backwards town in Wisconsin and move back to the city, but profound lessons had been learned and her family was now a better unit for it. Or so we should believe.
In the end Alice is better than all of us. She doesn't hit children, and the time she did she told the world when it could've cost her her freedom. We should love Alice and be like Alice. We should all risk our freedom for the sake of an irrelevant truth, because the truth should be told no matter what. Yay Alice.