Based on a play of the same name, The Woodsman is a moving tale of a man’s attempt to re-enter society. Walter (Kevin Bacon), a convicted child molester, returns to his hometown after a 12 year in prison, moves into a small apartment across the street from a grade school, gets a job at a lumberyard, and mostly keeps to himself. A quiet, guarded man, Walter finds unexpected solace from Vickie (Kyra Sedgwick), a tough-talking woman who promises not to judge him for his history. But he cannot escape his past; he is warily eyed by his brother-in-law – Carlos (Benjamin Bratt) -, shunned by his sister, lives in fear of being discovered at work, and is hounded by a suspicious, verbally abusive local police officer, Detective Lucas (Mos Def), whose role is to make sure Walter is staying away from children. In the movie, Walter must deal with the temptations around him, including the nearby grade school and a young bird-watcher, who he realizes is being abused at home and who helps him understand the damage he has done in the past. He also comes to suspect that a man he has seen watching children near his apartment building is also a child molester.

The movie was shot in Philadelphia, was nominated for the “Grand Jury Prize” award at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, won the “Jury Special Prize” at the Deauville Film Festival, and was a featured film at the 2005 Traverse City Film Festival.

What to say of this movie? It is disturbing and unsettling, but it is brilliant, solid, thought-provoking. Kevin Bacon adopts a minimalist acting style, his performance is mesmerizing. Benjamin is characteristically superb and intense.

I went to my local library last to look for books for summer reading and came home with Traffic, instead, that I had not watched for a while.

Don’t watch this film just because there is Benjamin in it because he doesn’t have much screen time, but I think it is a good film, acted brilliantly, from which no character gets away clean.

The central focus of the film is the drug epidemic in the US and Mexico. It tells three separate stories that are each distinct unto themselves, yet interwoven into a common thread. One story takes place in Mexico and revolves around a cop with a conscience (Javier Rodriguez/Benicio Del Toro), the second story takes place in Ohio and Washington and involves the country’s new drug czar (Robert Wakefield/Michael Douglas) and the troubles he faces on the job and with his daughter who is a drug addict, and the third story takes place in San Diego and involves DEA agents (Montel Gordon/Don Cheadle and Ray Castro/Luis Guzman) trying to take down a big drug trafficker (Carlos Ayala/Stephen Bauer) whose wife (Helena/Catherine Zeta-Jones) learns the drug trade while he’s detained. Each story is shot in a different colour filter with the Mexico scenes being bright but grainy, the Ohio and Washington scenes in a moody indigo and the San Diego scenes in a sunny, vivid illumination. There are several other subplots that are also of note and move the story along. All of these vignettes interlock with one another somehow, serving to bring the story full circle.

It is a complex film that should be given repeated viewing to understand…  if you blink, you’ll miss a vital part.