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Rating: We have at our disposal these elements: a dark, gloomy, somewhat sad character who is restarting his life from scratch: excellently portrayed by Kevin Bacon (Walter), "The Woodsman" is a film from 2004. A modest new apartment across from an elementary school, a job at a sawmill (hence the title), all accompanied by a hefty dose of loneliness. Why is the character so alone? It turns out he spent 12 years in prison for child molestation. Bacon is disgusted with himself. He admits it to the psychologist, asking "when will I be normal", acknowledging his condition as a pathology. Science recognizes pedophilia as a pathology, and the director, Nicole Kassell, decides the character should believe that as well. He supports it when he distances himself from another pedophile who operates across from his window, where there's a constant flow of children. The viewer might think that 12 years in prison have given him enough time to reflect on himself, thus learning to despise himself, suppressing his instincts, likely acknowledged as a psychological defect.
But let's go further. The viewer witnesses a person who is anything but despicable. A capable worker, silent, punctual, who fights to do the right thing. You end up appreciating him, even more so when a policeman barges into his apartment and begins to mistreat him as if he's a piece of trash, which he probably is, but the viewer can only imagine that because Bacon does nothing wrong. He has paid his dues, so why does this villainous policeman treat him that way?
At one point, I thought the director was making a mistake. The pedophile is more than despicable, so why am I starting to side with him?
Bacon rebuilds his life and reconnects with a woman, his brother-in-law, and his colleagues. However, something isn’t right. His spirit overtakes him, and he finds himself following little girls in a shopping mall and another in a small grove. The only time you see him smile is when he's talking to a young creature. But he doesn’t do anything. It's not pedophilia. It's philanthropy. Little girls are wonderful, how could anyone say otherwise? Now it’s mathematical. If you like children, you must be a pedophile. Once upon a time, saying "I like children" might have represented a yearning for fatherhood, a vocation for education, an acknowledgment of the purity and innocence of those who have not yet understood the obscenities of existence and live in blissful, irresponsible carefreeness. Essentially, we will witness a philanthropist who is disgusted by pedophiles and seizes the opportunity to attack one of them, beating him to a pulp (at that moment, he might be beating the rotten part of himself), he distances a young girl with whom he had started a conversation and behaves correctly, making no mistakes. Indeed, in the end, he will definitely rebuild his life, and we will never know if he is cured, perhaps they've taken the right path.
Thus, the viewer remains optimistic, and it's a shame, because this film (despite good moments of tension and anxiety) is not aligned with reality. 9 out of 10 relapse, and the film tells of an exception. If only it were always like this. In recent years, the fear of pedophiles has increased astonishingly, and rightly so. The data is disconcerting, and it’s very easy to accuse someone who is not necessarily ill-intentioned. The film creates a good balance between those who have faith in the character's rehabilitation and those who do not. And where do you stand?
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