True crime has always been perversely enticing. Today, it has a considerable fan base, with a steady stream of programs and documentaries, and YouTubers and podcasters making careers out of retelling tales of horrible crimes that once took place. It seems a more recent phenomenon to question the morality of it all, and in an era when people are not only consuming true crime content more than ever but also giving more thought to what they consume, it is an interesting time to look inward and consider exactly why true crime is so fascinating. True crime in film has been around pretty much since the medium’s inception, and over the decades, innumerable cases have been given the big screen treatment. It just so happens that in 2007, two movies inspired by the same case were released, and both were minimal affairs, far from the glittering heights of Monster or Zodiac. An American Crime and The Girl Next Door are two quite different takes on the case of Sylvia Likens, but both were united in their aim to seriously examine how such a terrible ordeal ended up happening in the first place. One was elevated, however, by a remarkably strong cast for what was a TV movie, led sensitively and poignantly by a then-up-and-coming Elliot Page.

It is with movies like these that some raise the concern of true crime being transformed into “entertainment.” However, it is arguable that the audience is not meant to be entertained by such movies, but rather challenged, and forced to consider the evils of the world and why they happen. This case is one so unpleasant that the mind reels to conceive how these things occur. Because when these incidents hit the papers or get talked about in documentary format, it can be very difficult to fill in the gaps. It is one thing to say someone started off at Point A and ended up at Point B, but what exactly happens between those two places, what transpires between people that leads to such hideous crimes? That is perhaps the most compelling part of it all.

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Who Was Sylvia Likens?
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Sylvia Likens was the 16-year-old daughter of traveling carnival workers who along with her younger sister Jenny — a polio survivor — were sent to live with a guardian so their parents could travel more freely for work and earn better money. Gertrude Baniszewski was a chain-smoking asthmatic single-handedly raising her seven children in near poverty in Indiana, and she offered to take in the Likens girls in return for a regular sum of money. However, when a payment was delayed and resentment between her own children and the Likenses started to emerge, Gertrude turned on Sylvia and over the course of the next few months, subjected her to an unimaginable ordeal of abuse. Courts heard that the Baniszewski children, and even neighborhood kids, got in on the act, apparently as a result of both peer pressure and the unusual freedom to inflict torment on a vulnerable person. Contemporary reports from the Indianapolis Star tell of the months of physical and sexual abuse, starvation, and unsafe living conditions culminated in poor Sylvia’s death on October 26th, 1965, at which point her sister Jenny told authorities the whole story, and Gertrude and a number of the children were charged with murder.

The details of this incident are truly horrific, and so startling that it gave America something of a wake-up call when it came to the seriousness of child abuse, and hive mentality. It should be obvious from this very conservative summary of the ordeal that any visual media inspired by it would never be intended as entertainment in the traditional sense. It could be seen more as educational, like a PSA or the graphic videos kids have watched at school over the years, warning them of the dangers of electricity, deep water, drugs, and other such issues. But given that this is a true story, that a young girl suffered terrible abuse and her family was torn apart by it, it is important for any portrayals to be done sensitively, and for the right reasons.

Why ‘An American Crime’ Was Made
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Not everybody thought that An American Crime achieved this upon its release on Showtime in the summer of 2008. But the people involved in making it took the project seriously, and realized the gravity of their job in telling this harrowing tale in a way that was not only respectful and truthful, but actually served a purpose. The New York Times tells of writer/director Tommy O’Haver being a young local when Gertrude Baniszewski was paroled, and it setting off a curiosity in him that he would later come back to with dedication, compiling court records, testimonials, and all original documents he could find; “We had all these facts. Then we asked ourselves ‘why?’ and ‘what kind of people would do this?’” the director said. In an effort to see the human dynamics behind the story, Gertrude gets perhaps too sympathetic treatment, but it is often the perpetrators of such crimes that need this angle the most. Horror is full of cardboard cutout monsters that simply cause pain, so it is especially important for movies to show their villains — particularly real ones — as actual people, and explore how and why they act the way they do. Baniszewski’s actions are not excused, but An American Crime does its part to explain her as a person and reasonably communicate why she would end up committing such heinous acts. Catherine Keener — who did not hesitate to brand Baniszewski a “monster” — works hard to craft an accessible character with her own struggles but never loses the reality of the situation to a need for sympathy.

Elliot Page Elevates an Average Movie
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Elliot Page was already proving himself an incredibly sensitive and versatile actor when his career really started to take off in the mid-2000s. 2005’s Hard Candy saw him take on the darkly fascinating role of a teenage vigilante who targets a pedophile and subjects him to an ordeal of physical and mental torment. Then, of course, Juno happened, and it was one of the biggest movies of 2008, garnering Page the attention he so rightly deserved for his imaginatively feisty and quick-witted portrayal of a pregnant teen. An American Crime premiered just a few months later, and Page was officially on a winning streak. When you line these three movies up, the roles are so different and challenging in their own unique ways that it is remarkable that the same actor was capable of crafting them with such fluidity and emotion.

Elliot Page was a great choice for the role of Sylvia Likens for a number of reasons. For one, he bore an uncanny resemblance to Sylvia (this was back when Page was still presenting as female), with a warm smile and very expressive eyes and brows. More importantly, he seemed to embody a wisdom and emotional understanding far beyond his years, and could really put himself in the mind of his character and communicate their feelings and fears without even having to say anything. There is a prominent peace-keeping in Sylvia’s nature as presented here: she is sweet, humble, and just wants to avoid conflict. It is quite remarkable how this sixteen-year-old tries to mediate fraught and eventually dangerous situations by being calm, reasonable, and respectful. Page tackles the role with a quiet sincerity that is subcutaneous. Rather than dive head-first into the meek, whimpering victim role, he really internalizes the character to the point that you can see a million frantic thoughts and emotions running through Sylvia’s head without her even speaking. Those wonderfully expressive eyes of Page’s communicate more than the script ever does, to the point that the movie’s poster is simply the title sandwiched between two closeups of Sylvia’s eyes and Gertrude’s.

Page told ComingSoon.net that he “attached [his] heart to it and dove into it,” and it truly shows in his performance. Where a more simplistic movie could simply paint its victim as the perfect child to emphasize the cruelty of their abuse, Page finds a real person among all the tabloid hyperbole and explores the nature of a young girl desperate to maintain some level of security and safekeeping for a sibling who is relegated to a helpless onlooker role in the torment. Her own tumultuous family background drives her to protect her sister above all else, to the point that she is lost in a dark swamp of senselessness and despair. In this way, the dynamics of abuse are given the depth they require to tell this harrowing story properly. In truth, Page elevates what is a just-above-average script to a really nuanced and heartfelt place that respects Sylvia Likens as a real person. Her pain is palpable and pitiable, and it is clear that Page feels immense sympathy for Sylvia and all that she went through.

‘An American Crime’ Isn’t Perfect But It’s Important
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An American Crime aims to base itself almost entirely on known facts, framing the narrative with the subsequent court case and plaintiff testimony. Opening title cards claim that the script has been based on court records. It makes one or two embellishments along the way, but nothing that detracts from the series of events. One questionable step is one of those “victim escapes not realizing they are already dead” scenes, with Sylvia escaping the Baniszewski house and getting back to her parents and revealing the torture she has suffered there. But when she goes back to the house with her folks to confront Gertrude (which seems like an unlikely scenario, especially with the parents staying in the car rather than accompanying their daughter) she sees the family handling her dead body and realizes she never made it out at all.

The script is serviceable, albeit a little clichéd at times, with a dreamy opening and closing sequence which Sylvia narrates, dropping a vague romantic metaphor about moving but going nowhere while riding the carousel. The bulk of the action is alright, although not terribly deep; The Girl Next Door arguably built the human interactions more believably and compellingly. What An American Crime really has working in its favor is one hell of a cast. And you’d be surprised just how many young up-and-comers are in this movie, even some who went on to be icons of the horror genre. We’ve got James Franco, Evan Peters, Scout Taylor-Compton, and Jeremy Sumpter, all of whom do well with what they’re given. Catherine Keener as Gertrude is reliably excellent, selling her character not as sympathetic but obviously with a lot on her shoulders and understandably highly strung.

But Elliot Page is the unquestionable star of this grim little picture. Alongside Hardy Candy and Juno, it is an exercise in versatility for Page, who climbs down from more confident and empowered characters to give a voice to the downtrodden and navigate the space of a victim in pain. It is hard to think of an actor of the time and place that could have done Sylvia Likens better justice than Page does here. If nothing else, the involvement of notable players like Page and Keener may have brought to this awful case the attention of people who otherwise wouldn’t have heard of it. And ultimately, as the charity Sylvia’s Child Advocacy Center states on its website, “The following story is upsetting, but it’s part of the reason Sylvia’s CAC is here today… We work every day to remember her name, honor her life, and protect children in Boone County from the same anguish and torture Sylvia endured.” If the tragically short life of Sylvia Likens can be remembered, and the public can be reminded to look out for society’s most vulnerable, then movies like An American Crime have their place.