Laura Dern stars in true story that tries to make viewers believe that a man who burnt down his house with his 3 children inside was innocent as a lamb. A house burnt down in 1991. The shirtless father runs out leaving his 3 children in the burning house. The father, Cameron Todd Willingham, had favourites and none of his children were one of them. He moved his car away from the fire but did nothing to save his children.
The fire VFX is bad. This was very small and very boring. Jeff Perry is in this. The father has no authentic vulnerability. This was based on a New Yorker article about the case. The father has cause to regret leaving them. TPTB try to make a hero/martyr out of a genuinely disturbing child killer.
This was not pleasantly diverting. He gets angry at his wife for not supporting him. This was unashamedly stupid. Neither he nor his wife seem overly upset thier children died in a hideous raging inferno. This film had manifest errors. For someone who claims to be broke he drives a nice car.
He and his wife had 3 young daughters. The mother seemed to be wearily expecting the father to be trash. Why did they have 3 kids they can't afford? Why did the father never put a shirt on? They had no signs of stress, grief or trauma. He was not gleefully unruly. He's consistently hostile and she's wretchedly unhappy. He has simmering animosity and yells in court and fist fights his cellmate after being arrested for murdering his children. Fallout rains down on him. The kids are tragically forgotten.
He doesn't help himself by his behaviour and attitude. He is accused of moving the fridge to block the back door. There is recklessness and inevitability. He causes violent confrontations in jail and doesn't mitigate the damage done. He is totally unpleasant. This had no integrity. He's abhoorrent, like this film. It is recalled how the father went drinking and playing darts when people were raising money for his childrens funeral. His bizarre and concerning behaviour is brushed off.
The father never acts like he had a desperate bereavement. There was a cycle of abuse. He is a liar, he left them. Laura Dern gurns as a death row lawyer and encourages the wife to visit the man who killed her children and abused her.
There are disturbing interactions. Jeff Perry who has aged badly plays a self-consciously zany fire expert. Laura Dern claims it wasn't arson, but a flashover fire. The man had a history of engaging in anti-social behaviour. He's callous. This was disastrous and he's executed. This was not enthralling or gratifying. He's not allowed to be buried beside his daughters so his lawyer has her kids sprinkle his ashes on the grave – ffs.
This was toxic. The man was tetchy. This had no decency. Laura Dern got into a car wreck. This was not combating lies with truth, it was the other way round.
Best Lines:
“Stay out all night and come home and sweet talk me?”
“Find somebody who will make him read it!”
“Microwave blowed up last month.”
“Kick through the childproof thing.”
“You didn't exactly tell the truth.”
“I don't want to hear your voice.”
“Preventing any escape.”
“Someone made that house into a deathtrap.”
“Violent abuse of you?”
“A wicked child that became a wicked man.”
“Learning to express myself better.”
“Tend to find what they're looking for.”
“My babies are burning up.”
“He burned up those babies as a sacrifice to satan.”