Now I’m not one to judge, actually check that cause I definitely judge. I don’t always express those judgments verbally, but my brain knows the deal. So when I see a trailer for Towelhead involving a middle eastern girl growing up and dealing with racist times, a father who has an iron fist, and an adult male who is attracted to her I think not a bad premise. Though what I saw instead was not exactly what I was sold on. Yes there was a young middle eastern girl and yes her father was ruthless at times and yea the older man was attracted to her but what they don’t tell you is that the girl is thirteen and just about every sexual encounter she has will be shown in graphic detail.
How this movie was able to get past the ratings board and not get NC-17 is beyond me. I get what they were trying to say in the movie, this stuff happens and we have to face it, but is it necessary to be so graphic about it. Do I need to see every moment of a girl losing her virginity to a pedophile fingering her to know what is happening? Or is it necessary to be there for every moment of her having sex with her underage boyfriend to know that they have sex? I wonder if the director of this film realizes that the less you show typically the deeper the impact because audiences imagination is usually worse then anything that can be shown. In fact the big sex scene towards the end has the greatest impact because of the fact that they cut away. Well the question still lingers. Is this a good movie?
The subject matter is definitely interesting. The characters are also interesting, especially Aaron Eckhart’s pedophile role and the father played by Peter Macdissi. Unfortunately the meat of the story doesn’t really occur until more then halfway in and by then I was definitely turned off to the movie. In the end the thirteen year old doesn’t have the right to make the decision she makes and it came off more as promoting that choice then making sure the responsible decision is made. I was suprised more tact wasn’t used considering the novelist also wrote American Beauty and the Director/Screenwriter also wrote the script for American Beauty. I definitely leave this one in the hands of the audience since it comes down to how much is someone willing to accept for the sake of telling a story. If this is too preachy, oh well, what can I say? Sometimes I judge.