Line #23 Film/AnAmericanCrime


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/american_crime_7157.jpg]]
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3	Creator/ElliotPage [[note]]then still presenting as female[[/note]] and Creator/CatherineKeener star in this dramatization of the real-life story of Sylvia Likens and Gertrude Baniszewski.
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5	In 1965, the troubled Likens parents are forced to leave their teenage daughters Sylvia and Jenny with strangers while they work the season with a traveling carnival. Based on one meeting, father Lester Likens leaves his girls in the care of Gertrude Baniszewski, an impoverished mother with six children and more than enough troubles of her own.
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7	At first things seem okay. Sylvia and Jenny get along well with the Baniszewski children, and Sylvia befriends eldest daughter Paula. But Gertrude begins to resent these strangers amongst her own family, blaming them for all their recent troubles. Gradually her rage begins to focus exclusively on sixteen-year-old Sylvia, who seems to embody everything Gertrude lacks: youth, beauty, spirit, exuberance, hope. All things that Sylvia must be punished for.
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9	For these sins, Gertrude confines Sylvia to the grim, dark basement of the Baniszewski home, where Gertrude, her children, and--eventually--the neighborhood kids gather to "punish" her. Until Sylvia learns her lesson.
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11	That lesson culminated in what state prosecutors later called "the worst crime ever committed against a single person in the state of Indiana."
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13	Released in 2007, the film was released alongside another adaptation of the Likens case, ''Literature/TheGirlNextDoor''. Unlike ''The Girl Next Door,'' which is highly fictionalized and takes a great number of liberties with the case, ''An American Crime'' is based heavily on the actual trial of Gertrude Baniszewski and sticks more closely to the facts.
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15	----
16	!!This film provides examples of:
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18	* AdaptedOut: Gertrude had seven children, while she has six in the film.
19	* AffectionateNickname: Sylvia's father calls her "Cookie."
20	* BasedOnATrueStory: Based on the murder of Sylvia Likens, a.k.a. "The Indiana Torture Murder." All dialogue from the courtroom scenes are drawn directly from the court transcripts.
21	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Gertrude and her family are found guilty for their involvement in Sylvia's death, but Sylvia of course is dead and it's implied that her sister and parents will forever endure the trauma of what happened to her for years to come. One bright spot is Sylvia's ghost finding comfort at her parents's carnival, the only place she felt safe.]]
22	* BlatantLies: Gertrude's story about Sylvia going to juvie.
23	* ColdBloodedTorture: Poor Sylvia is forced to endure this and eventually dies due to the horrific abuse she suffered.
24	* CompositeCharacter: Patricia “Patty” Ryan is a composite of three real-life girls involved in the historical events - Darlene [=MacGuire=], Anna Siscoe, and Judy Duke. It says something about the horror of the case that ''so many outside people'' were involved that some of them had to be condensed for the sake of clarity.
25	* CreepyCircusMusic: The end credits, where [[CreepyChildrenSinging a children's choir]] imitates the piping of a circus calliope.
26	* DestroyTheAbusiveHome: The ultimate fate of the Baniszewski home. While plans were made to restore the house as a shelter for abused girls, funding fell through, with many in the community blaming lack of donations on the location being too heavily overshadowed by the murder. Two years after the film's release and almost forty-five years after Sylvia's murder, the house was finally demolished. The site is now a church parking lot.
27	* DisproportionateRetribution: Much of what happens to Sylvia falls under this. The first beating happened because the girls' parents' payment was late, and because Gertrude believed Sylvia was telling lies about Paula.
28	* TheDogBitesBack: After the police are called, the first thing Jenny does is run to the cops and tell them "Get me out of here and I'll tell you everything". The next shot? ''She tells the court everything Gertrude did to her sister''.
29	* DolledUpInstallment: ''Film/TheAfflicted'', a later true crime film with a similar premise [[note]]not inspired by the Likens case, but the equally horrific abuse perpetrated by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresa_Knorr Theresa Knorr]][[/note]], has the alternate title of ''"Another American Crime"''.
30	* DyingDream: The scene of Sylvia's escape and reunion with her parents near the end.
31	* ForegoneConclusion: The fate of Sylvia.
32	* HistoricalBeautyUpgrade: In real life, Gertrude looked like [[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sc2nEO9Y1Xo/UNO51rr2-RI/AAAAAAAAOiU/0V8a_ilxzPM/s1600/baniszewski-may19-1966r.bmp this]].
33	** Paula was also quite overweight in real life. This leads to a plot hole in the movie where [[spoiler: she shows no signs of pregnancy even after months pass.]]
34	** The real life house was far from a shabby charming Victorian. It was one half of a large run-down house, with little furniture. Housekeeping was poor and the kitchen had only one spoon for the entire family.
35	* HistoricalVillainDowngrade:
36	** What Gertrude did to Sylvia in real life was ''far worse'' than what the movie shows (there's no mention, for instance, of how Gertrude, besides the physical abuse, deliberately starved both Sylvia and Jenny and other horrible deeds she did to Sylvia). The same applies to Paula, whose portrayal in the film implies that she had some sympathy for Sylvia and even requests her mother end the abuse. The RealLife Paula, however, was no different from her evil mother.
37	** The real-life Gertrude and Paula also showed no remorse for their crimes, with Paula becoming a real-life case of KarmaHoudiniWarranty when she went on to live a normal life under a new name... at least until 2012, when she was fired from her job as a school counselor's aide when the school discovered she concealed her true identity on her job application. Her connection to the murder was subsequently exposed to the community.
38	** In real life, the incident that got Sylvia locked in the cellar was that she needed a gym uniform for school. When Gertrude refused to give her the money, and found out Sylvia managed to get one anyway, she accused her of theft and imprisoned her of punishment. The movie gives Gertrude the slightly more tragic excuse of seeing her own daughters follow her own mistakes, and take things out on the more innocent Sylvia.
39	* HopeSpot:
40	** Sylvia and Jenny manage to reach their parents on the phone, and manage to hint that they're experiencing trouble, but are interrupted by Gertrude's kids discovering them. [[note]]In RealLife, Lester and Betty Likens actually visited their daughters several times during their time with Gertrude, but apparently found no evidence of the abuse, and their daughters were too frightened of Gertrude to speak out.[[/note]]
41	** Sylvia's DyingDream of escaping and reuniting with her parents. A part of you ''wants'' it to be real, but you know it isn't.
42	** Paula Banszewski seems to experience a crisis of guilt when she timidly suggests that maybe Sylvia's been punished enough. Paula then gives the family pastor a very, very abbreviated version of what's been happening at the house, prompting him to visit and inquire about Sylvia. Gertrude lies to his face and eventually he leaves without intervening.
43	** There's a point where, after spending all of her time torturing Sylvia, Gertrude gently washes her and is able to interact with her calmly, indicating that she's got a grip again. She loses it as soon as the local church's pastor speaks to her about suspicions that Paula is pregnant, causing her to start lashing out at Sylvia yet again.
44	* HowWeGotHere: The film opens with and switches back and forth to the court trial of Gertrude and the others.
45	* JustFollowingOrders: In the courtroom scenes, there is a horrific sequence in which child after child, when asked why they hurt Sylvia, replies, "Gertie told me to." Remember, the dialogue in the courtroom sequences is taken from trial transcripts, meaning that they all really said this.
46	* KidsAreCruel: What Gertrude did was horrific enough, but the real-life fact that so many other kids would join in for twisted fun makes it even worse. During the trial, the lawyer questioning the kids who participated in Sylvia's abuse asks in genuine horror ''why'' they would willingly torture an innocent girl for absolutely no reason. Every single one of them replies with, "I don't know."
47	* LastDisrespects: Jenny got hers in real life after Gertrude died a mere five years after being released from prison due to lung cancer. Upon seeing Gertrude's obituary, Jenny wrote to her mother, "Some good news. Damn old Gertrude died. Ha ha ha! I am glad for that."
48	* MamaBear: Most of the abuse starts when Paula complains to Gertrude about Sylvia "spreading lies." Although this could be argued as Gertrude looking for an excuse to start abusing Sylvia as "punishment".
49	* MarkOfShame: Gertrude (and later Ricky, when Gertrude is unable to finish) burns "I'M A PROSTITUTE AND PROUD OF IT" on Sylvia's stomach with a hot needle due to Gertrude's delusional belief that Sylvia is promiscuous.
50	* MayDecemberRomance: Gertrude and Andy. Keener was 48 at the time of filming, and Creator/JamesFranco was 29. A case of RealLifeWritesThePlot, as the real "Andy" was 18 to Gertrude's 34 when they began dating.
51	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler: Maybe. By the end, when Gertrude is sentenced, her kids cry due to realizing the consequences of their actions ''and'' the loss of their mother. When Gertrude is put in prison and sees the spirit of Sylvia looking at her, she begins to tear up and tries to mouth the words "I'm sorry", before Sylvia fades away]].
52	* PosthumousNarration: A deceased Sylvia is telling her own story.
53	* TheSixties: A rather darker side thereof--less free love and more secrecy and lack of child protective services.
54	* SlutShaming: Gertrude does this to Sylvia for allegedly flirting with a boy during a town picnic and believing that she's "been with every boy in town".
55	* SocialServicesDoesNotExist: Very nearly literally. Many laws regarding mandatory reporting of suspected abuse came into being directly because of this case.
56	* SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: When the courtroom doors open immediately after the intro, a triumphant [[GospelChoirsAreJustBetter gospel choir]] sings "Tell the World About This" on the verge of the truth about Sylvia being revealed to the world. May double as SoundtrackDissonance, considering the grim story about to unfold, though the upbeat tempo may reflect on Gertie about to receive her just deserts.
57	* TakeMeInstead: When Gertie is about to beat both Likens girls, Sylvia offers to take both beatings to spare her disabled sister. This appears to be the ''one'' point in the film that was invented for drama; in real life, Gertrude initially beat both girls indiscriminately before focusing on Sylvia.
58	* TeenPregnancy: Gertrude had her oldest daughter Paula at a young age, and Paula herself gets pregnant by her married, much-older boyfriend. Gertrude is unable to deal with the thought that Paula made the same mistake she did, leading her to blame poor Sylvia for her daughter's choices and ultimately torture her to death as a way to take out her fury on ''someone''.
59	* TortureCellar: Where Sylvia is eventually kept.
60	* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: In the final scenes, Sylvia relates the fates of many of her tormentors.
61	* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Gertrude is this initially as we see her fall apart from the stress but it becomes harder and harder to sympathize with her as her actions become more horrific.
62	* WouldHurtAChild: Gertrude Baniszewski.
63	* YankTheDogsChain:
64	** There comes a point where we're led to believe that Sylvia will escape and be reunited with her family. The audience knows this won't last.
65	** There's also a ''literal'' moment of Yanking The Dog's Chain when young Johnny Baniszewski torments the family's starving chained-up pooch by leaving its food bowl just out of its reach. While it seems to be symbolic of Johnny's budding sadism and his later role in torturing Sylvia (as well as Sylvia's own situation), this scene is actually taken from real life.
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Context Film / AnAmericanCrime