I braved Mystic River...

I braved Mystic River...
S

survive75

Registrant
Hey all... I dared to see Mystic River last night. I'm doing surprisingly well today considering!

For those who don't know, it deals with SA of a boy after being abducted from Boston. For those who can handle a movie like this right now, I would recommend it HIGHLY. Tim Robbins (who plays the boy as an adult) was amazing in portraying total conflict of telling his wife about the abuse, disassociation from himself... hating the memories and flashbacks. I don't know... you really believed he went through this.

And the movie was very truthful in portraying how survivors remember things... at least it was similar to how I do. In brief glimpses, pictures, specific memories but not the whole thing all at once. They focused on how he disassociated a lot and did it well. (Some movies play the melodrama up too much with that sort of thing.) The whole movie was really painful, but really good. It truly showed how something like this can affect us forever.

-Sean

P.S. If you are from Massachusetts like me, it'll obviously hit close to home just seeing the city on the big screen so be careful if you think just that will trigger you.
P.P.S. Most of the main actors did well with the Boston accent though!
 
Sean
It's hitting our screens this week,and the reviews are all good. So I'll make the effort, and take a 'brave pill', before I go.

Dave
 
I saw it this afternoon. Really difficult to watch. I was most often raped in the woods so it was difficult. I felt it portrayed the damage of CSA well.

At least this is another chance for people to realise that boys do get sexually abused. I will be interested in seeing if I sleep well tonight. The woods thing was bad for me.

Bob
 
I;ll wait for the video, if I see it at all........
 
I saw it last night. Definitely hard to watch, but it was good. I also thought it showed how hte people around the Tim Robbins character didn't understand what he was going through, or how to interpret his feelings and actions.
 
I may yet watch it. After "L.I.E.", I may have to get up the courage, but I've heard it was good.

Peace,

Scot
 
I saw this movie on Sunday. It is a very powerful movie and Tim Robbins does an excellent job. The subject matter is grim but it deals with how various people are affected by what happened to one boy who was SA'd interwoven with a murder mystery plot. Clint Eastwood directed this and he treated the subject well.

Be in a good place if you're going to see this.

Take care,

Steve
 
i saw mystic river on saturday and wasn't as triggered as i thought i would be...but i guess that is a good thing. i too, think that tim robbins (who i've loved ever since "shawshank")portrayed the character and what he continued to go through after his abuse very realistically. if you are in a strong place i would recommend the film. i thought the movie was very good :)

Kip
 
I saw Mystic River yesterday.

I think the film (and book), as fiction, exploits those who have in reality experienced CSA.

It is used as a plot device and at the same time seems coy about it.

On the other hand, Dave's inability to understand himself and, consquently, to explain what has happened and is happening to him to his wife seemed true and honest. For years, my partner has misinterpreted my acts and words similarly (but not as dramatically).

I avoided talking about the film afterwards with the people who I went with. They are the sort who like to discuss a film and ask how I liked it and all that. I would've had to be honest about the scene in which Dave pummels the perp (and murders him) and tell them how satisfying I found it which they would not have understood and merely credited it to what they would call my weirdness.

Brett.
 
**Notice - Post contains some details about the movie. Sorry, but I don't think it will spoil anything for anyone who wants to see it.***

I haven't read the book, but I intend to after seeing the movie. So I can only speak of what I saw on the screen.

I don't think it was exploitive in any way. This story is a tragedy of Epic proportions and SA is the catalyst.

There are hundreds of other movies and weekly TV shows for that matter that DO exploit and sensationalize terrible events; Witness the recent dueling TV movies about Jessica Lynch and Elizabeth Smart.

I know it's hard to be objective and dispassionate about the SA, but I think the movie was very respectful and sensitive. It was a fair depiction and it some ways I would argue that it was too even-handed.

I don't see it as exploitation, I see awareness and exposure, and although some scenes and words deserved more explanation or context, or to be denied and refuted, I think overall the movie was extremely well done.

When the shades were drawn down as young Jimmy and Sean stared up at Dave's shadow, it sent a chill up my spine. There was the SILENCE closing in and I could feel Dave being buried alive right there.

Just before that, one of the neighbors milling about outside said, "Damaged goods, for sure."
That infuriated me. Not because it was said, but because it is still said today.

The direction was remarkable, Both claustrophobic and expansive. I was moved by the score. It was almost another character, a Greek Chorus of sorts. I was amazed and impressed to learn that Eastwood had written the music.

Tim Robbins and Sean Penn have never done better work. I have to say that while I was always aware I was watching Sean Penn as Jimmy, Tim Robbins inhabited the role and it was like someone I had never seen before.

If I have any argument with the movie, it is that it didn't include enough to explain how what happened to Dave influenced Jimmy and Sean.

The implications are there; it made Jimmy a criminal, a man capable of murder. It made Sean a cop, whose wife left him taking their newbron child.

I'm hoping the book will answer these questions. I want to know why Jimmy stands in the street and says, "Sometimes I think we all got in that car 25 years ago. We're still 11 year old boys trying to get home (get away?)"

But after all, it's just a story. Fiction. And while it may depict some myths and wrong ideas, (like Dave fits a murderers' profile because he was sexually abused), I think anyone seeing it is going to understand and maybe even feel the damage and harm, even if only a little.

Finally, to Brett; I understand your feelings, but I think Dave attacking that perp is one of the most horrible parts of the story; another tragedy added to the mix.

It's the same way I felt about what happened to Geoghan in prison.

More violence, more abuse - The Cycle(s) clicking forward another notch.

All too sad, all too real.
 
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