The Woodsman  (2004) from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski)

The Woodsman is a controversial film from an unknown writer/director. The script obviously impressed real life couple Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon enough that they agreed to work in it, despite what must have been a minimal payday by their standards.

Kevin Bacon plays a confessed child molester who gets out of prison on supervised parole after twelve years of hard time. The film examines his struggle to live a quiet blue collar life unnoticed, and his greater struggle to deserve that life by keeping himself under control. His parole officer and several of his co-workers believe that a child molester is always a child molester.

This complex script doesn't give the audience the easy out usually afforded by a Hollywood film. In the typical mainstream film Bacon would  be a reformed man who, having paid his dues, is faced with the blind and unwarranted prejudice of a large segment of society. In this film he is a paroled convict who, having paid his dues, is faced with the perfectly justified prejudice of a large segment of society. He is still a child molester in the sense that an alcoholic doesn't stop being an alcoholic. He knows in his heart that he is still a child molester, because he still has sexual feelings for young girls, and we actually see him act on those feelings, falling short of physical contact with the willing victim not because of his will to exercise restraint, but only because he was suddenly touched by something the little girl said.

We see that although he is essentially a good man, his demons are very real.

The key dramatic conflict does not revolve around the prejudice of society, but whether he can conquer himself. The conflict is developed by four circumstances (1)  Bacon is about ready to molest a little girl, until he realizes how much pain she carries from being molested by her own father (2) Bacon sees the pain he causes through a mirror, another child molester who is stalking a playground in view of Bacon's window (3) a new girlfriend (Kyra Sedgwick) learns about his problem and tries to help Bacon get assimilated into normal life (4) Bacon talks to his psychologist throughout the film.

Of course, very few people will ever see this subtle, multi-dimensional, nuanced and unresolved drama about child abuse. It's a difficult subject which is not treated superficially, and the story has no ending. Not exactly a popcorn film! I suppose it will never reach even 100 theaters. That's reality, but something of a shame, because it is a smart script which really tries to understand the problem and manages to coax a brilliant performance from Kevin Bacon. Although we see him act on his sexual urges toward a young girl, and we do not have any hope that he is suddenly "well", we do see him make progress and feel, along with him, that he might have a chance. 

If you think the premise of this film is intriguing, you will probably be impressed by the execution as well.