We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011): Movie Review

Parenthood can be a blessing, yet we have to admit that it’s not for everyone. It is a difficult task to take care of another life, requiring a lot of patience and understanding towards the children involved who don’t understand the world. Yet there are so many people who have kids and put them aside, sometimes blaming them for their unhappiness and sometimes that bad judgement of their kids can come back to haunt them. Precisely what happens in this psychological thriller film based on a novel of the same name by Lionel Shriver, published back in 2003 where a young boy is the author of a school massacre and this forever haunts his mother; who will be the main protagonist and will serve as our eyes and ears through our discovery of how it all began.

I heard of this movie when I was in high school and a friend had gone to the Fine Arts cinema to watch this movie, sounded interesting and by the look on her face you could tell she truly enjoyed it. Then back in 2014 I saw it on t.v. but sadly I had only reached the ending where everything already happened, there were no future viewing schedules so I lost hope. Then the magic of Popcorn Time happened and was finally able to watch it and all I can say is… That woman had it coming in a way. I know it’s no excuse for all the things he did, even so can’t help but think that if Kevin’s mother would’ve treated him better maybe he wouldn’t have caused such a horrific event. Or maybe not, it all depends really.

The film begins with Eva (Tilda Swinton) living in a run-down house that apparently was attacked by red paint, she lives all alone and is constantly being looked down upon by neighbors and townspeople. She was once a travel writer, traveling was her greatest passion but because of her son Kevin (Ezra Miller, who you may know from Perks of Being a Wallflower as Patrick) everything changed for her. She lost her husband, lost her house, works at a tiny travel agency, barely has enough money for food in her house, and she is all alone with no one that understands her. Even though she was pregnant she didn’t feel confident or happy about it like many other women are, felt more like a drag or like an unwanted obligation. When Kevin was a baby he was always crying and he never cooperated with Eva, we can tell by the look in his eyes how he enjoys messing with her. While growing up he basically made Eva’s life hell, and Franklin (Kevin’s dad played by John C. Reilly) always made excuses for him and always thought Eva was exaggerating. Kevin broke his arm after Eva threw him against a wall as a child, since then he has used that against her to do what he tells her. Then Eva decides to have another child, Cecilia, who Kevin feels jealous of and treats her like a little minion as he grows older. Kevin kills her guinea pig and poured chemicals into her eye with made her lose it, so afterwards Eva becomes aggressive towards Kevin and so Franklin decides that maybe they should get a divorce. Then one day Eva receives a call from Kevin’s school, when she gets there many people are surrounding the building, many cops and fire fighters along with parents, when they manage to break the doors open Kevin turns himself in. In the end when Eva asks him why did he do it all he says is ”I used to think I knew, but now I’m not so sure”, which is pretty dumb but maybe he just thought I’d be a good way to prove that he wasn’t just a naive human being like the rest but all he did was make everything horrible for himself. Basically tried to be smarter and better than everyone else to get some attention but failed. Good thing is that in the end you can slightly see Eva coming to peace with Kevin unlike in the beginning visits where she barely said a word.

I really liked the cinematography in this movie, I was able to get many screenshots that were so good in the way everything was arranged along with the colors and meanings you assign to each image. A lot of the times when younger Kevin messed with his mom all I could think of was ” You little son of a b••••”. I liked how it wasn’t the usual thriller, it was something different, being afraid of your own child and basically having ”the enemy” living under your roof constantly going out you when you don’t realize. Even though you try to negotiate with said enemy, they won’t stop having their fun imposing fear into your system. Then when we try to figure out why the enemy hurts us, they aren’t really sure why. Honestly that’s stupid, you hurt people and then you just don’t know why you do it? At least try to fight it don’t you think? Anyway, just like in the Babadook, this film talks about the sort of taboo side of family where it’s wrong to asume anything bad from your family and you have to try to make it perfect, flawless, make it fit the mold of the model family (which is what Franklin (Kevin’s dad) tries to sustain whenever he tries to place optimistic ideals which in the end led to nothing).

The movie was featured in the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and won several awards such as: the Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Film, the Flanders International Film Festival Ghent for Audience Award, Irish Film & Television Award for Best Director of Photography (strongly agree with this one), Writer’s Guild of Great Britain for Best Screenplay, the London Film Festival for Best Film, the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures for Top Ten Independent Film, and many more. Very acclaimed in Great Britain and the United States indeed.

Nobody is perfect, parenting is very difficult and requires a lot of sacrifice to try to make it all work out. Women are raised with the idea that we HAVE to be mothers and that children are a blessing, but you know what? Not everyone is meant to be a mother (even though it is our biological purpose), not everyone wants to have a kid, not everyone can handle the responsibility and that’s ok when you acknowledge that. Really bothers me when people have sex, have kids, then feel miserable and blame it all on the kids. Excuse me, they didn’t ask to be brought into the world it just happened and it’s not their fault if you’re miserable don’t take it out on them. Who your kid becomes is a reflection of what you thought them and the person you were before their eyes, whether they planned on it or not.

Hope you guys enjoyed and I’ll write to you soon. Bye!

I rate this movie 3.0 out of 5 bloody arrows