So this is what the real world is like. Real people, real situations, real tragedies.The director, Amy Berg, has previously directed "West of Memphis" and "Deliver Us from Evil", documentaries relating to crimes not completely unlike things that happen here.And the tragedies that occur here, separated in time by seven years or so, are likewise quite believable. As are the individuals involved.That's all I will say, I guess. Without giving anything away, this is an entirely believable tale. It is also well-acted and very competently directed. I thought it was superb overall, and very underrated.

This film definitely borders on the macabre.Two little brats, equally disturbed, kidnap a baby and literally let it die and are sent to a reformatory for what they have done.Fast forward seven years later: The girls are released and begin telling varied tales which of course leads to one blaming the death of the child on the other.When a second inter-racial child is snatched, naturally suspicion arises regarding our two females.Diane Lane is in a most perplexing character. She is an elementary school teacher and mother of Alice, a very heavy set girl, who walks around. Where is the shame that the Lane character should have for a daughter doing such a thing? Amazing with her own irrational behavior that she was able to continue in the teaching profession.The film takes an odd twist when it is learned that Alice was impregnated during her stay and gave birth to a child. She is desperately looking for that child and participated solely in the second kidnapping. She states that with a life gone, she can now bring life to her child.On top of all this, the other girl is eventually shown to be the real culprit and Alice is totally exonerated. Exonerated? After all, she did snatch the second child.The film is definitely quite eerie in nature.

This is an interesting little film. It's a dark story full of grim characters, most of the which are the type you hope never enter your life. You could call this film predictable (and it is to be fair) but I don't think that's where the strength of this film was ever supposed to lie. The strength lies in just how interesting the characters are. The mystery of just how evil each of them potentially is just adds to things.For an under-the-radar film it has a pretty strong cast. Diane Lane, Elizabeth Banks and Dakota Fanning all turn in strong performances and the lesser known actors do a good job as well. It's also well directed and despite there being almost no action scenes during the 90 minute run time, the film never drags which is always a good sign. Altogether it's a fine little film that I hope a lot more people get the chance to see.

A three year old child goes missing in a small town where two teenage girls live, girls who had been recently released from prisoned for a previous child kidnapping and murder. Needless to say, suspicion soon falls on them.The central idea in this film recalls the notorious British crime, the Jamie Bulger case. In this instance two young boys kidnapped and killed a toddler. It created a media storm and has remained notorious ever since. For this reason, the ideas underpinning this story are based on controversial ground but the film itself is handled in a very understated manner. It's partly a police procedural mystery and part psychological drama. Of the former, it is perhaps not as intriguing as it could be, although admittedly it does have some twists and turns; of the latter it is perhaps more successful where it looks at why a couple of damaged girls and one mother act the way they do. It's an efficient film, rather than an especially good one but it did keep my interest from start to finish.