ramble through the bronx

Thursday, March 24, 2005

What kind of a tagline is "Until death do us partake"?

Who else is really, really creeped out by there being a movie about Bernardo/Homolka, that Laura Prepon ("Donna") from That 70s Show is playing Karla, and (worst of all), that

Every scene of the film was derived from events transcribed in court testimony using police reports, interviews between Karla and her psychiatrist, and videotape of the crimes shot by the perpetrators themselves.

(from the synopsis on the official movie site)

Derived from court testimony?!? That's creepy that some Hollywood guy can get the court transcripts, given that the trial was under a media ban here in Canada.

The CP article says (Danson being a lawyer for the Mahaffy and French families:

The producers based the film on court transcripts, information that was subject to a media ban in Canada.

"I guess someone took the view that they were part of the public record and were entitled to it - I've read those transcripts and it's very, very disturbing stuff," said Danson.

Several items of hard evidence from the trials, such as videotapes and photographs, were later destroyed, but trial transcripts were preserved.

"We didn't destroy the transcripts because we have to be mindful of the fact that Paul Bernardo - even though it's theoretical - will be entitled to parole reviews in the future," said Danson.

The French and Mahaffy families are concerned the film could violate their daughters' memories.

"When we destroyed the videotapes and other sensitive material - (the families) really did believe they had purged this evil - that their daughters were now free from further violation," said Danson.

"The thought of a Hollywood production simulating what had happened to their daughters is something that's excruciating and incomprehensible to them."

The CBC had a discussion a few years ago about the possibility of a Bernardo movie, back when there was a possibility Jason Priestley might play Bernardo. Here's more information about Bernardo movies.

Who agrees with Dalton McGinty's call for a boycott? What do you think?

Obviously, yes, free speech, blah blah blah. But isn't it really weird that a Hollywood writer/producer can get access to stuff that was deemed too private to be shared with the Canadian public? Further, for the Americans, this is just a crazy true crime story... but I feel like it was a nightmare, at least in Ontario (possibly because as a kid I had only a very veiled idea of what was going on -- which made it all the scarier). I feel awful for the families.

Creepy, creepy, creepy.

(Also, go back to the synopsis page. It doesn't show up on the stills page, but the third picture down on the synopsis page Doesn't Bode Well for the movie. God. Nasty.)

Oh yeah, and here's a message from the producer. He says he hopes the movie will raise awareness of "the need for vigilance and alertness against the kind of predatory behavior that Paul and Karla personify." Right -- because we're totally laid-back about this sort of thing already. Whatever.

Oh, and ALSO creepy is that on the Links page, the Laura Prepon links are to "That 70s Show" (reasonable), Maxim magazine (I guess 'cause of her pictures there a few years back), and worst of all, the AskMen.com site, which has on it some of the most offensive, misogynist material I've ever seen. Great. Just great.

jane 9:32 AM [+]