Good movie, great subject, but grasped far less than it reached for

Rating: Null/10 (27 October 2003)

I agree with the user review by rghawkins on Oct. 25th, '03.

This would have been a more powerful movie if the last 10 minutes had been clipped off. In its present form, it tries spelling out too much.
I'd read some critics' reviews calling this worthy of Oscars. And it WAS good. I'm a retired psychologist and family therapist so I've seen many times how abuse seriously effects even those who were not themselves directly abused, and how its consequences travel on for generations. So I can't think of a more deserving subject.
I think too often in screen plays and in stories, the motivations and decisions caused by ancient and previous plots are ignored. As if each life starts out with a blank slate, jostles with some stresses, and writes up the results. That's simplistic. Always our slates have been much written on and previous words always intrude, unconsciously forcing us to change whatever we're writing to make their inclusion fit and seem logical. I was hoping to see more of that richness conveyed in something other than just violating others. Perhaps it was but in more simplistic cause and effect actions than I'd like.
A usual hallmark of good and great movies for me is the extent to which scenes replay themselves, capturing the essence of an issue or a human situation or a question. This movie didn't give me many.
Perhaps because it tried to do two things -- flesh out an intriguing mystery on the skeleton framework of family dynamics (or vice versa, it's hard to tell which should be considered the frame and which the flesh). And possibly because it covered the area of my professional interest and work, I'm much harder to please? Many others will be far less demanding on that issue.
Definitely not a pleasant, feel good film but worth seeing. Good performances by the three male principals and others. But, for me, it grasped far less than it reached for.