Karla (2006)

To me, this movie is perfection.

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

A different way of telling a story

Girl falls in love with boy, discovers he's a rapist, marries him and colludes in his continued depravity, then gets caught.Earnest tale told in plain flashback, with no insight on the characters and no interest in the nature of truth and little by way of visceral horror. The killing scenes are tame, giving no sense of the rush of adrenalin in perpetrators or victims, or the ugliness and finality of violent death. So overall it feels like an old-fashioned made for TV movie.You get to the postscript and find an entirely different character from the one portrayed by the lead actress, and it's a real head scratcher to think they didn't use that angle to mess things up and break from the linear story telling.Performances are fine. Lighting is mostly bright, so no great moodiness. Music did its job.Overall: Simple tale of depravity that didn't feel depraved.Seems there was controversy in Canada over this, and several of the actors repudiated the film, with lurid tales of misconduct on the set. Its real weakness is that it pulls its punches and fails to be nasty enough.

What is scary is how these films get made for the public. Of course, there will be copycats. Viewers that get a kick out of the sordidness of it all. Sick people in the world that movies like this will encourage to continue their sick violence. I blame producers, writers and directors for making these kind of films. They should stop. Don't they read the papers? Next we'll see the Boston Marathon bombings made into a TV special glorifying those two terrorists. It truly makes me sick when I see films like this which costs plenty being spent when we need that money put to better use, like helping the victims of tragedy. I wonder if this producer or writer or director ever contributed their money to a good cause? Lauren Prepon played a useless piece of fluff very well. I hated her throughout the movie and had no sympathy at all for she made her bed and so shall she lie in it. Then there's the demented Misha Collins as the bad little boy. He did okay. I really couldn't get into his performance as I felt he went over the wall with it. And please, get a haircut. That's all.

Well, I have written reviews about people wrongly convicted, as in the movie "The Trials of Darryl Hunt" (a must-see), a scary discourse on a sometime court procedural. And now conversely, a comment about someone rightfully convicted. However, she didn't nearly get her due behind bars. So I guess that's not so "rightfully." Hence, I guess sometimes 'justice' (whatever that word means) - is like the wind and leaves. On any given day, it scatters about to and with the whim of the day.As a movie, this has the feel of Lifetime or the Hallmark channel written all over it. It is basically Karla at her eight-year prison mark meeting with a psychiatrist and discussing events from her case in hopes of parole. We see everything in retrospect - as she and the shrink discuss it. Prepon is good and goes through the motions of what this unfortunate script requires. I recommend watching a documentary rather than this dramatization. It is better towards the end, but with all the movies available, unless you're ardently following this case - skip it.Sidenote: With all due respect to the victims - this can be quite funny in a few spots, but only in the way tragedy borders on comedy. Megalomaniac-psychopath-sociopath-misanthropic Bernardo, GET this, actually thinks he's a rapper. These scenes when he is attempting to rap somewhat place you in a vortex and you're caught in a glazing gaze not knowing what to think or do. I laughed. But in the confusion of blowing leaves - it's not so easy to know what to do.

I've seen a few reviews here and in other media about this movie that complain that it is too realistic and/or never should have been made out of respect for Canadians and, especially, their victims and families. Well, I'm a Canadian and I was stalked and almost abducted off the street by them. Luckily, I was a lot more street savvy than their victims, very smart, strong and in peak physical condition, and more a leader than a follower. They wisely realized that, appearances to the contrary, I was not a good choice of prey and moved on. All this is to say, that I probably have more reason than most to agree with those who argue that the film shouldn't have been released.I do, in fact, agree that it shouldn't have seen the light of day but not, however, because of bad memories, sympathy, or outrage at glorifying the horrific crimes, but because the movie sucked! From writing, through directing, to acting, it's just bad. It's too late for me, but not for you who haven't had to sit through this sludge - save yourselves!