The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things

I watched The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things. I had never heard of it and apparently there was a lot of controversy surrounding the book. It seems it was a bit of a James Frey hoax thing but I really did like James Freys book and will be getting this one as soon as I'm not poor anymore, lol.

OK back to the movie...........

There is nothing 'good' in this movie, it was a breath taking, horrific piece of film. It will take a strong constitution to be able to watch it. It's not something that everyone could handle and is a topic I generally avoid like the plague for the sake of my sanity, but I think it should be seen or read by everyone. It's child abuse displayed in some of the most harrowing heartbreaking scenes I have ever watched in a movie.

It's about a child called Jeremiah who was born to his 15 year old mother then fostered as a very young child by a family who loved him as every child needs and deserves to be loved. When he was 7 his mother returned to claim him and we see how fecking brutal some people are when it comes to being parents, in fact she was brutal as a human. I'm sure I will be the only person on the planet who could feel sorry for his mother but I have to admit I did. She was a mental case first and foremost and needed help.

We see Jeremiah being treated in the most awful ways by his mother and his various 'new dads'. She gave her 7 yr old drugs she gave him to her boyfriends, she gave him away again, when she had enough of him, to her absolutely cuckoo religious zealot parents. I couldn't decide if it was worse to be treated the way he was when he was with his mother, with no way of knowing who to blame or if it was worse to be treated horrendously in the name of God.

He spent three years with his grandparents in their cult like lives until his 'mother' decided she wanted him back. We see the return of the cycle of abuse, neglect and tear inducing living that the now 10 year old child has to go through.

There is no feel good factor to this movie. There is no happy ending, no forgiveness and no redemption. There are no epiphanies for any of the abusers and no relief for a child that was born to another damaged child.

I got so fecking angry while watching this and I cried my heart out for the fictional child of the movie but more for the children of the world that live the life Jeremiah did and no one does a fecking thing to save or protect them.

I hate to see children treated like they have no rights, I hate that people actually believe a child has no rights. I hated this film as I was supposed to and I recommend everyone else give themselves the chance to hate it too.

I have a copy of it here and feel like buying enough to give a copy to everyone that I know. I want everyone else to watch it. It is a movie that needs to be talked about for days with someone else. It needs to be discussed, dissected and despised.

Karma. x

This a film about child abuse where the real victim is the viewer.

I'm writing this review simply to prevent others from wasting their time. The film's trailer is much more satisfying than the film itself. Watch it, and move on with your life.

This film is a great example of a bad adaptation. It has no character arc and no pay off. The cause and effect relationship is weak. Parts of the film don't even make sense. It's basically a group of disturbing scenes thrown together randomly. It's also pretentious and repetitive. My masochistic tendencies forced me to finish the film. But I spent more than half of it praying for it to end. And I'm an Atheist!

Don't waste your time.

*** out of ****

The film adaptation of the book entitled THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS, i am happy to say, is pretty much spot on in capturing the tone and the general feel of the book. I've read the book many times and i am a fan of it. I liked how easy it was to get into and how the ugly tone was employed. But lets pretend that i haven't read the book. Lets pretend that i purchased this film only because i thought it looked interesting. Is it still good? Well, yeah. It pretty much is. I'm mean sure, it isn't likable, but it is well made, well acted, and well directed by another fan of the book Asia Argento. Asia also stars in it, and while she goes overboard with her part sometimes, she still does an admirable job at playing a real psycho. She plays Sarah, a junkie prostitute who has a son, of which the film is about. Her son, Jeramiah, has all sorts of twisted misadventures. He is a young boy who ends up stoned, abused, raped, brainwashed, raped again, stoned again, abused again, etc... His journey to the depths of hell becomes increasingly hard to watch as the film continues.

He eventually gets hooked up with Sarah's fundamentalist parents who are strict, abusive, and obviously angry at his mother. He ends up growing up there for most of his young life.

While the film is pretty sick and trashy, its interesting to watch this boy develop in such strange ways. Since every scene in the film is about him, we feel that we're there with him from the beginning. We feel really sorry for him during the violent sequences.

Overall, the film works well in its narrative and, while its definitely not for most people, i recommend it. Just try to stomach the subject matter.

Rated R for intense depiction of child abuse/neglect, strong sex and drug content, pervasive language and some violence.

WARNING: If you purchased this film on DVD under the distribution company of PALM PICTURES, you might easily get a faulty copy that may have a certain scene crunched about three quarters into it. This wasn't the fault of PALM PICTURES, this was just a processing fault. It happens. If your DVD is glitched, please contact palm pictures. If you would like to view the scene in the mean time, plug in this address:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4v6VYsoA_c

Downright depressing. I watch films to escape or to see the joyousness of life - basically this is about child abuse. We all know what that is - and the adults who do it are downright ILL. For that reason, this film is brilliant and depicts the mental illness in adults very well - and their inability to connect with their own compassion and understanding. Makes you realise that just because a person can have a child, doesn't mean they are a parent. Throws up the whole notion of family and how damaging it is for some people.

If anything this film could be used to force EVERYONE to take a parenting course and to be observed and examined in the action of parenting.

It was realistic - but sad, depressing and well, if you are in the mood of getting depressed, watch this one.

I was really wanting to see what the kid turned into as an adult. Just another junkie?? It leaves you dissatisfied completely in that respect.

I can't say I "liked" this film, yet I can say it was better than I expected. Actress/Director Asia Argento is both the best and worst thing about this film. As director, she presented a story that had flow and made sense, and made a couple of very good choices as to when to use surrealistic and stunt casting tricks in service of the story. She also got excellent performances out of the cast generally. Except...

as an actress, she kept taking me out of the scene. If your reaction is the same as mine, just tune her acting out and let the story unfold.

I would also say that JT Leroy, writer of the prose on which this film is based, was involved in the production. Via letter, he introduced the film at various film festivals. The claim that this is a true story, that this is "my life" that Leroy makes, tends to inoculate the film from a lot of criticism. How can anybody say "the ending wasn't much of an ending" or "the mom was really over-the-top" if the person who lived the story says the movie is "true". In other words, a movie has to have its own truth, whether the story it tells is true or not. And I guess I think this is "7" because for all it's flaws (Argento's acting, skips in time that leave characters undeveloped, and a general lack of roundness to the characters that really could have been fixed), the movie did seem to find it's own truth.

For that I credit director Argento, young actors Jimmy Bennett, Dylan Sprouse and Cole Sprouse (who knew the Sprouse twins could act? Very well done), sharp (if stereotypical) cameo turns by Peter Fonda, Winona Ryder, & Ornella Muti (whom I took to be Lena Olin). Also props to John Robinson, who played Jeremiah's teenaged uncle -- an underused character in the film. Except I can't say that because this movie is a "true story". See? That's frustrating.

Oh, the content is strong, this is not for kids, and a LOT of adults will need to quit watching at some point. But it is overall worth the effort, if you have a strong stomach and can control your rage at the awfulness of the life depicted.