Karla

 

 

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I first became fascinated by the Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka case when I had to study it in my high school class on Canadian Law in 2005. The Ken and Barbie killers. It was the only part of the whole course that wasn't completely boring. It was also the same year Karla was freed from prison. I watched the French CBC interview she gave the night she was freed (what a stupid move for such a hated woman I would've thought dead by now). I also read almost all the books and watched several documentaries about the case too. I was much more interested in Karla than in Paul. Simply because sadistic serial rapists/killers like Paul, as sad as it is to say, are a dime a dozen. But Karla was unique. She was a young pretty little enigma from our own Canada, who also happened to be a sadistic serial rapist/killer. Some psychiatrists that have evaluated her say she's pure evil, others say she's an innocent victim, and some came out saying she's a complete mystery. I personally think she is a person who happened to have been born without a conscience, like some people are born without limbs or vision or hearing. I think had she never met Paul, she wouldn't have done anything like this in her entire life. But she did. And she has no remorse for what she did, at all. Neither does her family. In Stephen Williams' first book about the case, Invisible Darkness, it's documented that, although her family appear to be nice normal people, they didn't really seem to care about what she had done. They defended her, stuck by her, and her mother, Dorothy, was heard to have said "Well the girls are already dead, so might as well party" at Karla's going away party before she went to prison. My theory is that the whole Homolka family is psychotic.

First time I watched the movie, I didn't like it. I was disappointed that the facts had been twisted the way they were. But the second time I watched it, I understood the whole point of having it be her side of the story. Because there are certain parts we don't know for sure exactly how they happened (the deaths of Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French not being videotaped), there are now three sides to this story: Karla's, Paul's, and the truth. Being told from her lying mouth was the only way they were able to make this movie. That, and also because Karla's compliant victim defense adds another layer of complexity to the story which might make it more interesting for some. She's still crazy, but it's a different kind of crazy you see. Since then, this has become one of my favorite movies. It really is well made and well acted. If it had been received better and not totally slandered by Canada (as a Canadian myself, I say you can't have a problem with this being based on a true story without having a problem with Bonnie and Clyde or Schindler's List), I think there could've been a possibility for Laura Prepon to have maybe even gotten an Oscar Nomination for this role. She probably thought it was going to be her big breakout role in Hollywood. And it could have been, especially after Charlize Theron received critical acclaim and an Academy Award for her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster. But now she'll be remembered as Donna Pinciotti from That '70s Show, which is what I'm sure she was trying to avoid by taking on such a challenging and dark role. But she played the murderous bitch perfectly, especially during the evaluation scenes between her and her psychiatrist, Dr. Arnold, who served as a proper mediator for her unreliable narration. In a way, she was playing two different characters. Both the Karla who's been reported as having an "indifferent, haughty and irritable" personality, and the compliant victim Karla from her version of the story. The real Karla was obviously not that good an actress.

I've watched this movie with friends who knew nothing at all about the real case and they all liked it even though they thought it was sick and disturbing. But as sick and disturbing as this movie is, it's actually toned down through the movie's editing, as compared to what happened in real life. Almost every time I will watch the scenes of the psychotic rapes, torture, and murders of Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French (renamed in the film out of respect), I will cry. Although, one particular part always makes me laugh for some reason; when Karla mentions Demerol to Dr. Arnold, he asks her if she wants some. She then looks him dead in the eyes with a hateful expression on her face and just calmly says, "No". I don't know why, but that part always cracks me up! This movie has some flaws, as most movies do. For example, there are some minor omissions and a couple of names have been changed due to legal reasons. It's not perfect or a masterpiece by any means. And it doesn't have a moral at the end of the story, other than love makes you crazy. But it is a very good movie that seemed to get a lot of negativity that wasn't necessarily deserved. It is much better than it gets credit for.

I have to disagree with the previous review. I grew up and have lived all my life in the area where these horrible crimes took place. Even though I followed all the news coverage about the depravity of Paul and Karla, it's not until I saw the depiction of their reign of terror in this movie, that I understood how sick it was. Again the previous reviewer complained about accuracy and sympathy for Karla. The producers always stated that the script was based on court transcripts which are publicly available. Being a movie, they will take license with the events such as changing the names of the victims. I really don't believe the movie brought out any sympathy for her. The movie just portrayed, as recorded in court transcripts, Karla's version of events, which of course are biased. Those of us who lived though them in the eary 90's know the real truth and don't necessarily need a movie to validate what we already know.

As far as a film, it's basically a B-C level film obviously based on the actors in the roles. Based on that I give 3 stars for how it told the story, not great but not unwatchable.

My husband and I followed the story of Karla and Paul very closely whne it happened and was going through the court system here. We have read every book on the case and have to say we were very disapointed in this movie! It tried to show Karla as a victim, which she was far from being! In everything we have read or seen to date she was obviously was very much a willing participant and took pleasure in what she did. She was as much to blame as Paul was for the crimes and this movie did not portray that at all. After what she did she does not deserve any sympathy what so ever and this movie tries to get you to feel sorry for her.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting movie
Movie was well done - I'm surprised it didn't get more noteriety like other movies based on real life killers (e.g. Monster). They stayed very true to the facts... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Karen

5.0 out of 5 stars Intense
This movie seemed slow and only somewhat intense when I watched it. I had nightmares though! It was crazy. The story is very intense and the characters well played. Read more

Published on Feb 11 2009 by J. Stashick

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