An American Crime
By Marshall Fine
Rating:
Saturday, May 10, 9PM, Showtime
Catherine Keener and Ellen Page ("Juno") star in this shocking true story. Keener plays a single mother of a brood of kids, struggling with her emotional equilibrium in the early 1960s. To make ends meet, she agrees to take in two kids (Page is one of them) belonging to a family from her church, while the parents travel with a carnival. But she quickly takes a disliking to Page and, accusing her of breaking various household rules, she inflicts physical punishments including spankings with a belt and cigarette burns - and it gets worse from there. Bradley Whitford ("The West Wing") is on hand as the prosecutor who lays it all out in the sensational courtroom trial that frames the story. Keener is scarily on edge, while Page plays a girl whose spirit - and body - are slowly broken. It's tough stuff built around very real performances.
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