Bastard Out of Carolina
Reviewed by Gordon Kearns
This review contains key plot elements (Spoilers)
The Boatwright family lives in Greenville County, South Carolina. The Boatwrights are loud and foul-mouthed. The men (and probably the women as well) are hot-tempered and unafraid of a good fight, and they enjoy their liquor - beer, wine, white whiskey ... whatever. Most make their livelihood as low-level laborers in places like the sawmill. They live on the outer fringe of the local society, and in paint-worn frame houses just outside of town - or in town in cheap rental houses in the warehouse district. Proper folk in those parts look on the Boatwrights as trash. In response, the Boatwrights have circled their wagons, so to speak, about their own family subculture, proudly declaiming, "We take care of our own." And they do. They let no one in their family unsupported in times of need. If a family member shows up at any of their doors at night asking to stay for any reason, they will be taken care of. They adhere to their own strict code of honor.
Anney has three older sisters and an older brother. As the story opens Anney is being taken to the hospital to have her out-of-wedlock baby. Her brother-in-law is driving - and drinking; her brother Earl is drinking; her sister is singing; and Anney is sleeping in the back seat. The car runs into the back of a farmer's truck, throwing the sleeping Anney out the front window. Thus begins the first day in the life of Ruth Anne Boatwright, nicknamed "Bone" by her uncle. Bone is the Bastard Out of Carolina of the title.
Bastard Out of Carolina (1996) tells the story of the mutual devotion of mother and daughter, Anney and Bone. In a touching scene, Anney holds her new baby in her arms and defiantly vows nothing will ever separate them. Sure. Things go fine at first. When Bone is about three, Anney finds and marries a good man, from the better part of town. Her goal is always to find the right man, who will take care of her daughter and her. He does very well, and little Bone dearly loves her new father. Anney becomes pregnant again and a happy family life seems assured. Until he's killed in an accident and Anney and Bone are dependent again on the welcoming family. Anney still looks for a man to take care of her daughter and herself. Fast forward a few years. Bone is eleven. A quiet, shy child who likes to read and tell stories to her young cousins. Her little sister Reese is about five or so now. Another man enters Anney's life. He comes from one of the county's leading families, but is held in little esteem by them, especially his big-daddy father, because he lacks the brains, education, and ambition to make something of himself. But to Anney he's a white knight. Her family is not fond of him: he has an uncontrollable explosive temper. Anney can't, or won't see it ... as later she won't see his continued abuse of her daughter Bone. The abuse begins when Daddy Glen, as he's known by the kids, and the two girls wait in the car in the hospital parking lot as Anney is in the hospital giving birth again. It's a scene of sexual abuse the like of which I don't think ever was portrayed in a movie. It catches the audience totally by surprise, like a punch in the stomach. Yet it's only a hint of what's yet to come.
The baby is stillborn, and Anney can have no more children. The disappointed Glen can't handle the turn of events. Somehow he views Bone as coming between Anney and him. That tied with his weird sexual fascination with the girl leads to a series of cruel beatings, which finally send her to the hospital. Anney's eyes are opened, but she is satisfied with Glen's assurance that he really loves the girl. And then another beating, the worse yet. When her family finds out about it, led by her brother Earl, they beat Glen almost to a pulp
Another touching moment between mother and daughter occurs when Anney asks Bone to come back home. "I wouldn't ask you if I didn't know you'd be safe." Bone knows better, and refuses to return, a decision that tears both apart
.
But Bone's trials are not yet over. Glen seeks her out to convince her to return, because Anney won't come back to him unless Bone does. Bone's refusal leads to perhaps the most stunning and violent scene ever filmed, even worse than the parking lot terror. He punches her, breaks her arm, and viciously rapes her. Even after all this, Anney puts a hand of forgiveness to his head. Bone's heart is broken.
But Anney does leave him. And she leaves Bone to the loving care of her sister, because she's come to realize that her tolerance of all the abuse was a betrayal of her daughter. The final separation scene between them is heart wrenching. The movie moves into the credits as the sobbing Bone says softly to the camera, "I love you, Mama."
This movie was history making in its depiction of child abuse in all its cruel reality. And it was history making in Director Anjelica Huston's ability to present such scenes with reality, but without abusive exploitation of Bone or Jena Malone, the actress who played the part. And the movie was history making for its introduction of one of the best child actresses ever. Jena Malone was absolutely phenomenal. Amazingly, she had very few lines. But the hurt, the confusion, the self-doubt, the defiance, the insight she was able to portray using only her eyes and face proved she was an actress of exceptional talent. And the few lines she did have were delivered like a sword thrust to the heart. That scene where she tells her mother she won't return home should be preserved as a prime demonstration of what acting is all about.
Jennifer Jason Leigh played the part of the easily deluded Anney to perfection. Ron Eldard is to be commended for his portrayal of the always angry explosive Daddy Glen. Michael Rooker as the dependable Uncle Earl, and Diana Scarwid, Glenne Headly, and Susan Traylor as Bone's loving aunts, filled out an outstanding cast, along with Grace Zabriskie, as Granny; Lyle Lovett as Wade; Richard Todd Sullivan as Travis; and Dermot Mulroney as Lyle, Anney's first husband. Anjelica Huston's overall direction was superb - fantastic images and camera placement.
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