Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Family Sins [Trigger Warning for, uh, Everything]


[Harmony note: Since trauma is the bread and butter of the Lifetime film, I'm going to start putting trigger warnings in the titles when appropriate. On one hand a person can reasonably expect SOMETHING horrible will happen in a Lifetime movie. On the other hand, some movies go a little farther then others, so why not make it easier to skip something you don't want to read?]

It's always a happy occasion when Rusty and I have the time to watch a LMN movie together. Since we don't get to do it very often, it's best to try for a special occasion kind of a film. Family Sins hit our criteria through three very important key phrases: "true crime", "evil basement", and "Kirstie Alley". We sat down on Friday with a bottle of Kid Rock's favorite bourbon (Red Stag!) and gave it a go.

First off, can I just say "ew". It's no secret that my favorite true crime Lifetime movies are the campy ones. This one was like if the team behind Saw remade Serial Mom. I know that it's cliched to proclaim something Saw-like, but this movie is striving for it. Every third scene features someone being tortured in a grimy tableau. Your enjoyment of the movie will be predicated by your ability to enjoy watching a mentally handicapped woman get enslaved, beaten, and raped by people she trusted to take care of herself and her baby. Whoops, spoiler alert. Also, they rape her daughter. Again with the spoilers!

The movie starts with a family photo session that is probably trying to remind us of Capturing the Friedmans. (Remember when we talked about how it's not a good idea to remind us of a better movie in the middle of a bad movie? Read the blog, you hacks!) Is this picture perfect family not what they seem, or will this be the most boring hour since Project Runway moved to Lifetime? Cut to Kirstie Alley playing Brenda Geck, celebrating Mothers Day with her extended brood of biological and foster kids. Her kids are creepy, too. One is a Spencer Pratt-y meathead. There's also a girl who hides in the corner and looks and acts like pre-pubescent Carrie: sad, stuttery, and powerless. She spends a lot of her time shielding a tiny boy in her lap who looks a little too much like the Spencer dude. Brenda receives a bunch of lovely expensive appliances with price tags attached. Carrie, who is actually named Marie, is the only person who did not bring Brenda a Mother's Day present. This is underlined, highlighted, and poked into our eyes by writers who are firm believers in foreshadowing. And rape basements. Mostly rape basements.

The film leaps forward and we learn that Marie has fled the household, little blonde mini-Spence in tow. She's trying to find an official to listen to her story, but everyone is all "That family is cool, you crazy". As always in Lifetime films, social services only exist to rip families apart, ignore children in crisis, and maybe set orphans on fire. Her flight to freedom is interspersed with flashbacks to her icky childhood. Apparently, Mrs. Geck spends most of her time teaching her kids to shoplift and setting fires in her family's rental properties when the tenants displease her. Don't worry for them though, it's not all iron-fist tactics for a Geck property tenant. For example, one of the unfortunate arson victims was lucky enough to be taken in to their home, child in tow, for some loving rehabilitation. It's unfortunate that the Geck family learned their rehab techniques from Abu Ghraib, but oh well. If sexual assault, torture, and forced labor is good enough for our enemies, it's good enough for a mentally handicapped woman and her child. The mentally handicapped woman, who is named Nadine, is locked by Brenda in the basement for "her own good". She doesn't eat unless she does the housework to Brenda's specifications, and the one time she flees the property she's delivered back there by a well-meaning policeman and is rewarded with a beating from a stripped extension cord. She doesn't have the werewithal to escape on her own, and her daughter doesn't fare much better- raised as a Geck, as she grows older she learns of her mother's imprisonment. She also learns that she's expected to shoplift to support the family, and oh yeah, any male member of the family is entitled to sexually assault her at any time. One morning Brenda teases her for getting too fat, only to learn that she's been impregnated by her son. Instead of being horrified, she beats up Marie for being dumb enough to get knocked up by one of her kids. One commenter on the Lifetime site singled this moment out as a "lighthearted teasing" scene that allowed Kirstie Alley to show her fun side. I didn't know they had internet access in the violent offender wings of federal prisons, but you learn something new every day.

Carrie finally manages to find someone who will listen to her, a young DA that hasn't drunk the Geck Kool-Aid. The pieces of Marie's stories don't mesh with what the town believes about the Gecks, but they make enough sense that he's willing to hear her out. A raid on the Geck's house reveals Nadine's imprisonment, which is enough to put them all in custody while the DA builds a case. They slowly learn about the arson, the shoplifting, and the other illegal stuff the Gecks get up to. Brenda is unrepentant, and calls a dude that fences shoplifted goods for her to make things hard on Marie. He haunts her trailer, setting stuff on fire and breaking shit, but is generally just a nuisance as opposed to a real threat. And yes, the only other criminal in the film is black. Of course he is.

The climax of the film is the trial, which pretty much goes how you'd expect. Testimony is given, Marie cries a lot, Brenda looks suitably chagrined, and the men of the family get 10-20 years a piece for their involvement. The judge is super-excited to send Brenda to jail. Marie gets her public vindication, and she moves into a trailer with her mom. The film ends on a touching family hug. Yaaaay!

Awesomeness: 5
Urgh. Yes, this movie is campy and weird, and has a lot going for it in the arena of production values and a very strong cast. BUT! I cannot give awesomeness points to a movie where a mentally handicapped woman reminisces about how gentle her rapist was. Does that sentence make you feel awesome? Hey, me neither. 5 points for baseline awesome and I am cutting you off, movie.

Star Power: 6
Kirstie Alley has to be worth 5 points. She was in Cheers, and also is fat, which apparently means that as a nation we must observe and scrutinize her at all times. Everyone else in this had bit parts in every TV show ever, which makes them all annoyingly familiar but not immediately recognizable.

Lifetimeliness: 10
Now THIS is a Lifetime movie. Motherhood, child abuse, true crime, women in peril: this is the greatest hits reel of Lifetime Movies. This is Now Thats What I Call A Lifetime Movie!. It also had my favorite instance of a social services diss in one of these films: a harried social worker checking her watch and yawning as a child covered in bruises and close to tears says her family life is fine. Fuckin' social workers. Am I right?

I feel 21 is fair. This movie is a riveting watch, and it's certainly everything you'd expect from an LMN joint. But it is just SO GROSS. I'm going to go ahead and say you should watch it once, but I kind of doubt you'll want to watch it again.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I rented a apartment from the Burt's in 1977 after just getting married and was living on Roosevelt ave in Pawtucket and had got to know the family some. on the face of things good people, but two face they are and your enemy you be. if you cross them. And never make them wait for money as We found out when my wife and I where unable to work for 4 weeks after the Blizzard of 1978 hit Rhode Island and ran out of money.
with a Son just born 9 weeks earlier they made it clear one day after I was still unable to get any money. walt said to me. You will not know when, not know where and not remember WHY when they finished me with baseball bats.

randy said...

I remember that I was just a kid but this happened on Roosevelt ave. but it really didn't happen just cause you didnt pay your rent. you and the rest of the tenets that summer day were all refusing to pay. I do remember sitting on the back of the truck tailgate and all of the tenets were mad. when my dad left you chased the truck with the car and acted like you were gonna ram it while we were on the tailgate... then my older brothers went back with a truck load of guys. I am not saying what they did was right nor am I saying you didn't have a valid reason for paying but there was more to it than that. I mention this incidental in my tell all book..
you can see more at www.familysins.com or my facebook page just look me up send me a friends request..

Charlotte Hansen said...

Ok, I'm confused. While I love your review of this movie (very good indeed) I just got through reading the two comments you have had so far:
This guy is writing a book?? Huh... not with that grammar you are not! Both of these people sound like they had babelfish translate into English from some obscure language! Why bother posting fake, badly written comments that make no sense at all?? Please.

nodoubt257 said...

well first, Anonymous is talking about a BLIZZARD and you, Randy, are talking about summertime so someone is WRONG. Yes, Randy I think you are confused.

randy said...

Yes it's true my spelling is not great, that's what happens when you don't go to school and are used as child labor instead. However the good news is that while I can not spell all that great this new invention called a computer has an even new thing called spell checker. On top of that there is a publisher with an editor who fixes itbefore print. The book is out and doing quite well I might say. It's called " Fifth Commandment Atrocity" feel free to look it up

Anonymous said...

i am now just hearing all these stories, and it kinda spooks me out.. some sick people. the question is did they change do u know ? i know someone that rents from them now and got me scared for them

Anonymous said...

This really happened in Philadelphia pa around 2011. Really Happened!!!!! Look it up in the Philadelphia Daily News paper ........ There's real evil people in this world!!!!! Ladystar12@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

I just watched the movie on Netflix, and it is reminiscent of a wreck that you can't look away from. On at least ten reliable sources, the true incident took place in Rhode Island, not Pennsylvania. It took place in 1994 not 2011. A quick Google of Frances Burt will verify these facts. The www.familysins.com Web site referred to in the first comment is no longer active.

Anna X said...

I just watched this movie on LMN. Scarey stuff!!! Mother always tells me no matter how well you know someone you always just know what they want you to know. This is clearly seen in this movie. I am trying to see updates on the cases. I hope they rot in jail. And I hope everyone has removed the stronghold the Gecks/Burt's had on them and are truly living in peace

Shawnda said...

In my opinion everybody should browse on this.

Unknown said...

I LIVED IN PAWTUCKET RI AND I GOT SAY MY MOM RENTED FROM THAT FAMILY MONEY HUNGRY VERY DIRTY PPL AND THEY WILL GET THERE DAY GOD DONT LIKE ULGY AND GOD BLESS PAULINE UR BEAUTIFUL WOMAN I MET U RECENTLY AND A GREAT SOUL

Unknown said...

The Randy guy that posted earlier is one of her sons.

Anonymous said...

I just watched the movie on Tubi.

Are you ok today?