The Gray Man

This weekend I watched a DVD called The Gray Man. The Gray Man is the story of a real life "Hannible Lector" type character from the late 1920's. The story revolves around the kidnapping and murder of a little girl, Grace Budd, by Albert Fish in 1928. It is a gruesome subject but the film was so artfully made that it leaves you with chills, mainly because it is based on the true of these characters and the director lets you fill in many of the blanks for yourself. Albert Fish was a sick and narcisistic man who murdered and ate many children after his wife left him. He had five children of his own. They were all grown when he began his spree of terror and where in denial about his behavior, which did hint at what he was capable of. Although I am sure there are many who will not like the film because it is not graphic enough, and lets face it, modern society is jaded that way. I hestitate to classify this as a horror although the subject matter is definitely horrific. The film makers do a brilliant job of showing you what life was like then. As a former costume designer I can usually spot continuity flaws instantly, and I have to say this is one of the better made films I have seen recently. There are no big name actors, although you will recognize many of the faces. The gore and the acts of violence against the children you never see, instead the director has our vilian call the child upstairs and later you see him eating, so you know what has happened. As I pointed out in my last post, I think this style is so much more effective in horrifying us, the viewer, because we are left to imagine what has happened, what he has done. Towards the end of the movie, Albert writes a letter to the family giving terrible details of what he did with their daughter and it is this letter that allowed the police to finally catch him. Even in that, as the girls older brother reads the letter, we are not given everything it says, but just a taste. Of the other characters in the movie, we get a glimpse of how tough life was on some in the late 20's. And I found that glimpse interesting as we face our own economic depression today.

I also found interesting, that in his trial, Albert Fish, was one of the first to try to use the "insanity" defence, and while yes some could argue one must be insane to do what he did. I like the fact that the jury didn't let him have that "excuse" and saw him for what he was "pure evil". We are given hints throughout the film that it was way he was raised in an extremely religious orphanage that is the cause of his psychosis. I believe there is pure evil in the world. I also believe that more often than not people try to make excuses for their reprehensible behaviors instead of acknowledging them. While I applaud the way the film was made, the irony that our modern society is one based on excuses shows itself in how the film makers made the movie. In many scenes, we see the flash of the ghost of the boy he once was as he punishes himself for his wickedness. Had this film been made 40-50 yrs ago, would we have gotten those glimpses?

How often do we read and hear in the news today, how some killer, child molester, abuser, etc isn't resonsible for their actions because they had a rough upbringing, or their parents didn't love the enough, or their parents loved them to much? When do we stop making excuses for our actions and allowing others to make excuses for theirs?