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The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things is a disturbing movie. In fact it just it can`t get more disturbing than it . This suggest that the movie is hard to watch – but worth watching. My opinion may be a bit biased as I tend to like serious and powerful dramas just as The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things.

The opens with a scene on which a 7 years old boy – Jeremiah (Jimmy Bennett) is taken away from his foster parents because his biological mother claimed her rights upon him. She turns out to be an irresponsible abusive drug obsessed hooker – totally unsuitable for the role of a caring patent – and yet the boy was given to her. A short scene shows his room while he live with his foster parents and this is compared with the new environment in which he is to grow up.

The story is told from the Jeremiah’s perspective – most scenes are scenes are shot from his eye level ( and mental one ) .

His “real ” mother gives him some pills ( an XTC probably ) while presenting them as a medicine . At such a tender age – one can only imagine the damage drugs can do. But 23 year old junkie not only allows her son to consume beer and pills, but actively encourages him to do so. At one point when they were at the car and he went crazy she asked him what was he doing and he replayed : ” I am digging myself out“

Then the movie gets even harder to watch – the boy got beaten by one of the random boyfriends of his mom – in front of her and actually because of her – with her approval and even suggesting they put a sock in his month so he can`t scream loud. But that on itself is nothing compared to what the other boyfriend did to the boy …

The director mercifully and did not show us the disturbing scenes in details and it was not necessary as one was still able to get an idea of what was happening.

After the disappearance of his mother Jeremiah is taken by his grandfather – only he turned out to be a fanatical religious Cristian ( I have heard that there are such people in the states , but thankfully never met them while I was there ) – and one starts wondering what is worse – when the kids faces a complete brainwash by the fanatic people who live in his granddad`s mention. Those scenes reminded me of the movie Jesus Camp I saw few months ago.

Surrealistic animated scenes show the fantasy world of Jeremiah f, populated by a pair of red crows. He dips into this world when he experiences extreme pain and extreme trauma and only show that even his fantasies lead him to an unpleasant place.

The acting in the movie is first class starting with Jeremiah, excellently played by Bennett at age six and twins Dylan and Cole Spouse at eleven and continuing with a whole selection of star actors amongst them : Peter Fonda, Winona Ryder and Marilyn Mason.

The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things is a coming of age drama and as such it shows the toughest coming of age of a young boy who disparately tries to make the best out of everything that happens to him. Highly recommended movie – if you think your can bear it…

IMDB ( link) Fan site (link) DVD review (link) English Trailer (link)

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On a side note the movie is said to be based on the book of the same name by J T LeRoy – a teenaged young man who wrote books about his disturbing childhood…only it turns out that J T Leroy never actually existed as reported by Film Threat and Saloon but rather a 40 year old woman. NY mag has interesting 9 page article about the character of J.T. Leroy for those of you who are interested in the story.