Reviews

I watched this movie some time ago and found it to be quite realistic regarding the events regarding the life and crimes of Ed Gein. Steve Railsback did a great job in portraying Gein and he is a sympathetic character despite the horrible things he did. It should be noted for the sake of the gorehounds that this movie is more about the man, his motivations, his relationship with his mother, and his sheer loneliness so you won't see loads of blood and guts flying about the place. This isn't "Friday the 13th", "Nightmare on Elm Street", or "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". This is about the REAL man and what happened, so there's not a lot of focus on the sensationalistic, tabloid-esquire elements nor is Gein presented as a soulless killing machine. Probably the creepiest scene in the film is Gein dressed in his woman suit and mask, dancing in the light of the moon while beating a drum made of human skin. Eerie.

I saw somebody else posting a mention that his wife felt Gein should have gone to prison because he knew what he did was wrong while the writer of that review disagreed. I concur with that writer. I know a little bit about the Gein case and the man was very sick, and by that, I mean he suffered from deep psychological issues and a severe psychiatric illness. In fact, when he was arrested he was terribly upset about the fact that he had taken the cash register from the hardware store. He insisted that he wasn't a thief, that he only wanted to take it apart to see how it worked. That's how dissociated he was from the horror of what he'd done. A large part of his fascination with the female bodies he unearthed (besides his confused sexual obsession with them) was that he wanted to dissect them to see exactly how they were different from the male body and how they "worked". His curiosity was surely furtive and guilty, but then he had been kept away from women by his mother and taught that all women were "unclean whores". What might have been a typical male sexuality and adolescent curiosity about the opposite sex was severely warped and not allowed to develop normally. Once he was institutionalized and received proper treatment and medication, he lived the rest of his life as a gentle, non-violent man who, though obviously mentally enfeebled, enjoyed listening to the radio, dancing with the nurses, did minor repair work around the hospital, and adopted well to the institutional environment.

Anyway, I thought this was a pretty good portrayal of Gein that focused on the human aspect and not so much on the sensationalism. It's definitely a low-budget affair but despite that I would recommend this film.

Cheers! B

I found it hard to view the user comments on this film because of all the partisan ranting from demagogues of both parties. Therefore, I am going to try and leave my own political persuasions out of this review although I definitely have a viewpoint about what was happening in Iraq and the need for US involvement there.

*** This may contain spoilers, although this is a simple documentary with no plot, so there ain't much to spoil.***

After all the hype about Michael Moore's slanted, biased, and intellectually dishonest film Fahrenheit 911, and all the celebrity hubbub about how George Bush is an evil so-and-so and our involvement in Iraq was simply about obtaining oil, I thought I might have a look at what the other side (who gets far less sensationalistic coverage in the national media) had to say about the whole situation. I had heard that this documentary was particularly brutal and difficult to watch, but I thought it was important to see just what was going on in Iraq before the US dismantled Saddam Hussein's regime.

It was brutal, it was grotesque, and it was very difficult to sit through. We are treated to footage of people's arms stretched out across two concrete blocks and then being broken with axe handles; we see fingers hacked off, then the screaming, bleeding victim tossed aside to fend for himself; we see hands amputated surgically and tongues clipped out—all these horrific atrocities committed by way of punishment in the name of "justice". We see torture, murder, and disturbing footage of women being publicly shot or stoned to death for "crimes" such as adultery.

My problem is that the documentary, hosted by some boring, no-name yobbo in a suit and tie, frequently wanders from its supposed focus in favor of showing gruesome footage. At first it feels, albeit unpleasant, at least informative; however, as the film wears on, it becomes even more unpleasant, loses its informative nature, and begins to feel distinctly exploitative in tone. I found that shift in tone more disturbing than the film itself. The film ends with every videotaped beheading they could find. I had seen many when they were current news, believing it important to see what the enemy (terrorists and radical religious fundamentalists) was all about, but I just couldn't stomach re-watching these cold-blooded, grotesque murders again, presented as they were in the guise of "infotainment", and turned the movie off.

In some ways this film shows some important things that were happening within Hussein's Iraq that folks like Sean Penn either didn't see or chose to ignore. It will make you appreciate living in a free country where you don't have your tongue cut out or your hands amputated for displeasing a mad dictator. The US got involved in Bosnia and Somalia based on concern for the genocide occurring there, how could we in fairness turn a blind eye to Iraq? Saddam Hussein actively and arrogant defied every UN sanction and action taken against him, including those he agreed to in order to end the war in 1991, but the UN clearly wasn't going to do anything about it, especially with corrupt UN officials making under-the-table deals with Hussein. Who else but the US would have taken steps to correct this injustice? These are all good points made in the beginning of the film.

But the film's weakness is where it loses its focus on the reasons we went there and simply becomes a parade of gore, brutality, and murder. Although it has its good points, I can't in good conscience recommend it as a good, well-made documentary.

Cheers

Brent