A
Reflection of the Film "Broken Child"
Leslie
K. Penny
Module
6 Reflection Paper 3
Chancellor
University
Abstract
This reflection covers
the movie "Broken Child". This
movie portrays the rape of a women who goes on to live a life with her
rapist. They have a child together who
the father reverts to sexually abusing when the mother no longer satisfies his
sexual desires. The daughter, Louanne,
endures the rapes until she pulled from the home on her 18th birthday by her
boyfriend who later becomes her husband.
Throughout the film Louanne's mind begins to repair as she goes through
the memories of the abuse that is brought on upon the death of her father and
each time she sees her mother. The film
ends with Louanne saying goodbye to her mother by handing over a toy doll that
symbolized Louanne as a child.
A
Reflection of the Film "Broken Child"
I came across "Broken Child", written, directed
and produced by Kristin Scheimer, which is a 23 minute short film based on the
sexual abuse of a little girl while her mother stood by and allowed it. Upon further research I came across another
film directed by Michael Mierendorf in 2000 that has a 61 min running time but
I could not find a link to view the film.
However, I did view Kristin Scheimer's "Broken Child". As per this assignment it seems both films
reflect on the consequences of child abuse and how it effects the victim.
In the beginning is this short film we see the mother
fleeing from her victim, falling to the ground and then being raped by her
attacker. Moments later we flash forward
to the mother in her kitchen with her attacker, who we see is also the same man
she is having relations with, washing the dishes while we here a baby crying in
the background. This is pure
speculation, after watching the short film a few times, I believe the woman's
attacker (the woman who is fleeing in the beginning of the film) is actually
her father. I may be wrong.
We then see that the baby we heard in the film is now a
young teen, named Louanne. The mother
and father are in the kitchen in this scene.
The mother says "I am not letting my little girl take my
place" while the father says, "I have no use for you anymore. You don't do anything for me" (Scheimer, 2001) while glancing at
the helpless teenager. The mom then goes
to their daughter and whoops her with a wooden spoon. I believe she was thinking it would turn the
father on so he would have sex with her instead of her daughter. Which doesn't work. The father carries Louanne into a bedroom
where we hear a door slam and Louanne crying.
We are not privy to much dialogue throughout this movie so we have to
rely on what we think we are supposed to be taking away from the different
scenes and interactions.
An important figure in this film is a plastic toy doll
the now adult little girl, Louanne, finds while unpacking a box. Once Louanne sets eyes on that little doll, I
believe she saw herself as the baby and treated that doll like she should have
been treated by her parents, with love and protection. We also see the overwhelming reaction Louanne
demonstrates each time she sees her
mother. When her mother enters a scene,
Louanne shows PTSD symptoms as the memories coming flooding back of what
happened to her and the fact that her mother did not stop the sexual abuse from
taking place.
At the end of the film, Louanne's husband hospitalized her
for an episode she had while he was away.
This episode was induced by a visit from her mother. So more confirmation that her mother brings
out memories that Louanne had suppressed over the years. While in the hospital, Louanne's mother again
comes to visit her. Which again, makes
Louanne have flashbacks. Each one of
these visits, her mother tries to persuade Louanne to come home with her. Telling her that her husband is just like her
father and that she knows what's best for Louanne. Louanne finally has the courage to tell her
mother no. She says no to her mother
several times with each utterance getting stronger and stronger. She then gets up from the hospital bed, grabs
the baby doll that references great symbolism of Louanne herself, and hands the
baby to her mother. As if to say she is
moving on and her mother has lost her daughter for good. Maybe she is forgiving her mother with her
actions in regards to the doll. That is
up to the viewer to speculate.
It is obvious in this film that Louanne suffered from the
very definition of child sexual abuse which is the "sexual exploitation or
sexual activities with children under circumstances that indicate that the
child's health or welfare is harmed or threatened" (Roberson, 2011) as well as inter-familial sexual abuse
because she was sexually molested and abused by her own father which is
incest. I also feel the mother in this
film may have suffered from Stockholm's syndrome where she began to identify
with her rapist at some point after the initial rape. She was obviously in a domestic relationship
with him and stayed with him until he passed away. Nor did she stop her abuser from abusing her
own daughter. It even looks in the film
that she gave him the go ahead after she whooped Louanne.
Another point in regards to the mothers role in this
family unit is the fact that she was a rape victim herself and still involved
with her rapist could very well be a reason why her behavior is the way it
is. She was sexually abused
herself. She allowed her rapist to
continue the cycle with her own child.
The father of Louanne made it clear in the beginning of the movie that
he had separated his position as being the father from that of a person who couldn't
control his sexual needs when he called his daughter "it". He never called Louanne "the baby"
or used her name, he referred to Louanne as "it".
We see in this video how Louanne unconsciously repairs
her broken psyche which could not have come at a better time as we find out
near the end of the film that she is pregnant.
It took a while but her resilient nature and strength finally came
through. But this is just one of many
examples of the consequences of sexual child abuse. According to Cynthia Tower, certain factors
contribute to these consequences such as the type of abuse, the identity of the
offender, the duration of the abuse, the extent of the abuse, the age the abuse
started, the reactions of others to disclosure of the abuse and the personality
of the child (Roberson, 2011).
In the movie "Broken Child", Louanne
experienced most of the factors listed above.
The type of sexual abuse she endured was previously mentioned, inter-familial
sexual abuse. The identity of the
offender is her own father. The duration
of abuse, we are to believe began when she became a teenager and ended upon her
18th birthday, could range from 5+ years.
The extent of abuse is unknown during this short film but we are led to
believe it is fairly extensive. We are
led to believe in the film that the abuse started when she looked to be 13 in
the film but it could have been before that.
The only reaction we are privy to in the film is that of her boyfriend
when he takes her from the home at the age of 18. The film shows him as a caring and loving
individual who wants the best for Louanne.
Lastly, on the list is the personality of the child. We see her as a shy quite child and adult
which more than likely is due to her abuse.
To conclude, all types of abuse are awful for children to
endure but I feel sexual abuse is absolutely horrible with inter-familial sexual
abuse being the worst. I have personally
experienced child abuse and I have always been so grateful that it wasn't
sexual abuse by my father. I honestly do
not know if I would have fared well as an adult with that kind of past. I believe I would have behaved very similar
to Louanne, especially when she found out she was pregnant. I may never have even reached the age I am
now with those memories in my brain to haunt me when I least expect it. If one can get the therapy need then maybe
their chances of dealing with the memories may be easier. We can hope that is the case.
Works Cited
Roberson, H. W. (2011). Family Violence: Legal,
Medical, and Social Perspectives. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Scheimer, K.
(Director). (2001). Broken Child [Motion Picture]. http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi4115465497/
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