Starring: Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick
Director: Nicole Kassell
Rated: MA15+
THE Woodsman is a film which is realistic but also asks us to use our imaginations in assessing the characters and their behaviour.
It is also a film which tackles a very difficult subject — the paedophile. Specifically, the paedophile who serves his prison sentence and then returns to the world where he has to find a place to live, a job and has to report to a psychologist to continue his therapy, and is hounded by police acting as parole supervisors.
Many will say this kind of criminal deserves all he gets or does not get.
However, if a society is healthy, it can be judged by the way it treats its criminals, its humanity despite atrocity.
While proper supervision that prevents the paedophile from re-offending is essential, how does he cope back in the world?
After the film is over, we realise there are a lot of questions that were not answered.
The woodsman of the title is the man with the axe who frees Red Riding Hood after she has been devoured by the wolf.
He has been in jail from the age of 34 to 46.
How serious were his offences? What treatment did he receive in prison? How was he helped with his obsession? How deserving is he of audience sympathy?
As played with conviction by Kevin Bacon, he does elicit some sympathy. He is given a job because of his reliable past at work.
One of the truck drivers takes a shine to him and she begins a relationship with him. When she discovers the truth, she has to make decisions about her feelings and her principles.
This is especially the case after the secretary in the lumber yard takes a dislike to him and makes public his situation.
The policeman who harasses him at home makes no attempt to disguise his contempt.
There are two dramatic complications for our emotional response. The first is that the woodsman sees a paedophile stalking young boys in the street below his apartment. What is he to do?
Is the fact that he is concerned about the fate of the boys and acts on this enough to forgive him?
On the other hand, the film also shows that the drives that made him molest young girls has not gone away despite the therapy.
The scene where he meets a young girl in the park and befriends her and the crucial scene where he follows her with dangerous intentions make us wary.
Kevin Bacon is excellent in his role and is supported by his real life wife, Kyra Sedgwick.
