The Woodsman, with a very underrated performance from Kevin Bacon, is probably the first time I’ve ever – sorta – cheered for the – kinda – bad guy. Well, he’s a guy who committed a horrible crime, and he’s done bad things, but that doesn’t automatically make him a bad (pause) guy.
Walter was just released from a 12-year prison stint and is now a registered sex offender. Finding a job and a friend are difficult, but he manages to do both. He also manages to get an apartment across the street from a school, which – in New Jersey, at least – would never happen. Regardless, he’s working, trying to be responsible, seeing a therapist to avoid a repeat crime, and feeling the pressure of trying to fit in again. He doesn’t seem to expect to do well enough but instead seems doomed to be a constant imposition on the rest of the world. A nosy co-worker outs him, his past haunts him but not as much as a cop assigned to check on him. By “check on him,” I mean harass him.
The Woodsman suggests that pedophiles don’t want to be pedophiles, which I believe is true in most cases. It suggests that once a pedophile always a pedophile and that there may be redemptive moments, but there is never redemption nor rehabilitation, but there is a lot of guilt and anger at one’s self.
Kyra Sedgwick, Bacon’s real-life wife, plays a too-easily nailed girlfriend who is sympathetic to the new guy with kind words for her after she is harassed at work. She wasn’t “asking for it,” but she doesn’t mind it either. It might seem like a contradiction that she’d be offended by one guy making suggesting remarks but quickly jump in bed with the next guy, but it’s not a contradiction at all. It shows that she likes sex as much as anyone – but on her own terms, which is admirable. She accepts that men approach women like they’d approach a double cheeseburger, but she doesn’t always want to be a double cheeseburger. Sometimes she wants to be a soufflé. When she pushes Walter to reveal the dark secret that she knows he’s hiding, she’s strangely sympathetic. She doesn’t run away, as one might expect when one’s new boyfriend admits to molesting a pre-teen girl. Instead, he chases her away in order to reject her before she has a chance to reject him.
Walter battles the possibility that he’s never going to be “cured” or free from his compulsion. He knows that he’s got to control and reject the feelings when they strike him. He puts himself in a position of temptation, and that’s when I was cheering for the bad guy, but cheering for him to NOT be bad. One could say he’s testing himself. Another could say he’s losing his fight against his compulsion. It would spoil things to say what happens during his weak moments. It would spoil things more to say what happens when he sees another child molester stalking children in his neighborhood.
At only 90 minutes, The Woodsman is shorter than the average film with an above-average performance by Bacon and almost everyone else, especially the little girl named Robin whom he meets in the park as she watches birds. They strike a friendship that leads to the most intense moment of the film. She has no friends, and she watches birds because they like to be watched, as long as they know you’re not going to hurt them. It wouldn’t hurt anyone to watch The Woodsman.
brainsnorts inc. 
Wow this sounds like a great film to see…..thanks I would never have noticed it otherwise….
I could see this being a tough movie to critique objectively, but you pulled it off and actually make me want to see it. Thanks for the post!
thanks to you for reading.
Hi Rich,
An excellent review of a film that’s been out for a few years, but one of the few that deals realisitically with this dark subject matter. I’m amazed at the harsh sentences handed down for child molestation. Yes, it’s a horrible crime, and it scars chldren for life. But child molesters get long prison terms for as little as fondling, longer than for murder in many cases. We have a gay neighbor, a really nice guy. He spent 16 years in prison in Texas for having sex with a 16-year-old boy. The U.S. Marshal’s office came to our door to tell us we had a convicted sex offender living in the neighborhood. We’ve never mentioned it to him, but he’s uncomfortable around us, so he probably suspects we know. Some of our other neighbors don’t know, and we’re not going to tell them. I think it was courageous of Bacon and Sedgwick to explore this murky region of American society. Thanks for another excellent review. What’s next? Lolita? Ron
very courageous for bacon to have tackled it. yes, good point that i didn’t think about.
Interesting… haven’t heard about this movie. Sounds intriguing enough to watch it. Will I cry?
don’t think so, but i can’t be certain. it was a brave movie to make because it is almost sympathetic towards a criminal.
Sort of like The Reader?
Oh yeah. Kate winslet. That movie left me confused.
Really? I absolutely loved it!
i liked it a lot but it wasn’t easy to watch.
No, it wasn’t – it left me an emotional wreck. But that’s the best type of movie for me.
Any movie that affects you emotionally has done a fabulous job.
I don’t remember much of the finer details on this one but I do remember feeling very vulnerable by the end. Nice write-up!
You set the quality bar. I think I can keep up with that, but I could never keep up with your pace. Thanks for reading.
Thanks much! It’s harder to find the time to read blogs more so than watching movies and writing about them, personally.
No question about that.
Nice write-up. I think Kevin Bacon is a special kind of actor, and is certainly underrated. I don’t think his performance here is a huge step up in terms of ‘courage’ or something like that, though, because he was involved in that kind of thing in the past (which I think makes the ‘transition’ easier for him), most notably his involvement in very intense scenes in ‘Sleepers’ (1996), which also involved child sexual abuse, and which I regard to contain one of the most disturbing film scenes ever. I knew about ‘The Woodsman’ for what seems like ages, but never got around to seeing it – after reading your review, though, I definitely will, thanks!
I did not see sleepers. Nor did I think about the courage or child abuse part in his past until you mentioned it which cause me to remember Mystic River. Thanks for reading in sharing.