Based on the play, director Nicole Kassall commits to an intelligent, truly edgy, and controversial subject matter for this film, and it's a subject matter most people won't dare touch. Set in Sundance a year ago, I remember reading about it in "Entertainment Weekly" (I keep up with latest films), and I was immediately intrigued by the premise knowing no good can come from the plot or of its characters. When it was released on DVD, I jumped at the chance to buy it and my risk was rewarded with an underrated masterpiece.

I've never hated Kevin Bacon, but I have always doubted his acting skills, however recent films such as "Mystic River", and this have proved me wrong and verified my wrong assumptions. First off, I have zero sympathy for pedophiles. I don't care if you've seen god, and sought forgiveness, or if you gained forgiveness from your victim, you took the innocence of a helpless child away from them and they'll never get back. But many people have mis-understood the premise for this movie. Walter is a child molester who has just been released from a twelve year prison sentence and is now back in society under heavy parole and seeking therapy for his sexual feelings, but it's going to be hard when complications arise for him, and when he begins falling for a fellow co-worker Vickie (Wife, Kyra Sedgewick).

Can they ever get redemption once they paid for their sins? Walter is haunted by his crimes every day of his life and only tries to live his life as normal as possible, though it's evident normality may never be achieved. Don't be fooled, though, Walter is not a hero, nor is he a tragic figure, a person like him garners no sympathy or remorse from anyone and bears a scarlet letter that will haunt him until the day he dies, he carries around the heavy weight of guilt and torment as well as a stigma that comes with the territory once anyone discovers what crime he's committed. Some people will, undoubtedly, find this film sometimes disturbing and very hard to sit through. I found it powerful in both its subject matter and in its approach. Walter is a person who will live the sentence of his crime for as long as he lives and the odds are hopelessly stacked against him as the temptations present itself at all turns.

There are children everywhere he looks, and in a sick twist of irony, his house is across the street from an elementary school, and while he is seeking redemption he is bearing witness to one of his own kind who is hawking over the playground across the street and has no idea what to do about it, yet instead watches and waits to see what will happen helplessly. As I stated in the aforementioned paragraph, I've always doubted Kevin Bacon's real acting skills, despite the fact turning in some great performances in his career, but with "Mystic River" generally proving me wrong, Bacon gives another amazing performance. This movie made me ask the burning question, when in god's name will the Academy bless Bacon and give him an Oscar? What does this guy have to do to be recognized as an exceptional actor? This is probably one of the rare films that aptly display the immense talents of Kevin Bacon, and while this could have been handled very wrong, Bacon underplays the character and really adds force to him.

This film boasts a great small cast of talented actors from Bacon to Kyra Sedgewick who is a great romantic interest for Walter and basically becomes the light of his life he sorely needs
and wants, and the story ends up portraying them as a paradox, one a victim, the other a predator, and both get together very well with a very intriguing love story within the themes. Every character in this movie presents opposite views of Walter as a child molester, and all contribute something to his redemption and obstacles. Carl, his brother in law (Bratt), is the only family member he talks to, or the only family member who wants to talk to him, Mos Def is great as a cop who's bordering over the edge of vigilance taunting Walter and harassing him constantly throughout the film. Mos Def is a great actor, and I'm surprised because I'm usually very biased against rappers turned actors, and Mos Def has a real future and is great when playing off Bacon.

What becomes worse for Walter is he begins a very dangerous friendship with a local girl named Robin, played by Hannah Pilkes who gives a very effective and very good performance, an avid birdwatcher, he's taken an unhealthy fascination with. While "The Woodsman" won't garner sympathy, it will manage to disturb many of its audience members as we not only explore a pedophile, yet explore his mind and how he so keenly observes the potential predator across from him, and what he thinks, how he knows the game that is played with the children to get to them, and what goes through their minds when doing so. It's ultimately intriguing and pretty disturbing to witness. While this does tackle the topic of pedophilia, it is ultimately an engrossing excellent character study about emotions, sexuality, and inner demons.

Along with editing that is always choppy during the film never really adhering to the flow of the story, I was never sure what the screenwriter was exactly alluding to during the story. There's not a man within the confines of the story that is not painted as a pedophile or potential pedophile, and whether or not that theme is intentional or unintentional, it's rather jarring that there could be such an allusion and or assumption. Is every man a potential pedophile? No way, some are actually pure, but while the film does explore sexual taboos, and the limits of a man's sexual nature and the limits put up by society as immoral, it's utterly ridiculous and presumptuous to say that every man could possibly be a cradle snatcher if given the right temptation or motivation and it paints men in a very bad light within the story. It felt like all this film was doing was pointing fingers at men as perverts and rapists, and hardly ever offered up a two-sided view that perhaps women can be pedophiles as well. It's interesting for the screenplay to examine the fact that the mind really has no sexual taboos it isn't willing to explore or test, when given the opportunity, but to imply that every man given the right chance is willing to explore such a taboo is hard to really believe.

Despite a really exaggerated underlying theme within the story, this is a really intelligent and amazing piece of real filmmaking that manages to tackle all sorts of disturbing societal taboos. It's an amazing movie, and a true masterpiece with excellent acting, and symbolism, along with a very realistic climax.