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| After twelve years in prison, Walter moves into a small apartment, gets a job at a lumberyard and mostly keeps to himself. But despite this simple life, Walter (Kevin Bacon) cannot escape his tangled past.
A convicted sex offender, Walter is shunned by his sister, lives in fear of being discovered at work, and is hounded by a suspicious police detective. Struggling to regain the life he has lost, Walter must also grapple with the terrible prospect of his own reawakened demons.
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Here's what our members thought of this title. 5 stars = very good, 1 star = poor.
 |  | "Are you gonna tell me your dark secret?"
A challenging, engrossing drama focusing on the ultimate taboo of paedophilia, The Woodsman is a relentlessly somber and serious film, definitely disturbing, but also profound and moving. Kevin Bacon does an incredible acting job as former child molester Walter, newly released from prison and desperately trying to get on with his life. Challenges of note include dealing with the hatred of others, resisting the old impulses, and opening up emotionally to the one woman (Kyra Sedgwick) who believes in him.
Kevin Bacon tackles the role with complete fearlessness, a complex and compelling performance in a film that neither condones nor condemns his character. That's for you to decide. Bacon's real-life wife Kyra Sedgwick shares the screen as his damaged but sympathetic girlfriend Vickie, and it's a combination of their acting skills and obvious on-screen chemistry that helps sell their unlikely relationship.
"Vickie falls in love with Walter and sees something in him no one else sees, something he doesn't see in himself," comments Sedgwick. "And I think that's a big part of what the story's about: how you don't fall in love with someone who looks good on paper, that sometimes you fall in love with someone because your damaged pieces fit."
"This is a topic that isn't traditionally dealt with in films," says Bacon. "Characters like this are generally thought of as monsters, and the terrifying thing is that they're not monsters, they're human beings, they're family members, they're churchgoers, they're camp counselors. That's the most terrifying aspect of it. This is a deep-seated problem, and what The Woodsman does is deal with it in a frighteningly real way. It doesn't Hollywood-ize it. It doesn't offer a lot of answers, but it presents this character in a very real way."
"I hope The Woodsman provokes conversation about a subject matter that's traditionally considered taboo and off limits," adds producer Lee Daniels. "I know that, personally, since working on this film, a close family member confided to me that she had been abused as a child, and I'd never known about it. And we've been besieged with e-mails from people about the subject. So, yes, I hope the film provokes some conversation."
When asked what she hopes audiences might take away from the film, Sedgwick reveals that "...despite the difficulty of the subject matter, I hope that they're moved. One of the great things about film is that it offers audiences a chance to exercise their ability for compassion, to walk in another person's shoes for a while. And I think when a movie can do that, it's proved its validity in the world."
It isn't easy watching The Woodsman, the way it makes you feel, the things it makes you think about, but it's not meant to be easy. It's a harrowing but ultimately rewarding drama dealing with the most difficult and complicated subject matter imaginable. If you have the constitution for it, you'll find it's a very sensitive and intelligent piece of work.
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