The Lovely Bones

"My name is Salmon...like the fish! First name, Susie. I was fourteen years old when I was murdered on December 6, 1973."

Did you ever have a movie leave you feeling utterly depressed and that all hope is gone?
Well that's what Peter Jackson's "The Lovely Bones" did to me, and I have enough things harshing my mellow.

"The Lovely Bones" is based on the 2002 Alice Sebold novel, which tells the story of Susie Salmon, a 14 year old girl who is raped and murdered by her neighbor. Susie is then stuck in the "in-between", a place that's not quite Earth, but not quite Heaven. From the in-between, Susie watches as her family tries to continue on with their lives, after she's lost.

Now, I've seen a lot of these types of movies, going all the way back to the 1983 made for tv movie "Adam", about Adam Walsh's kidnapping and murder, and John Walsh's subsequent rise as an abducted child activist.
But no matter how many I see, they still bother the shit out of me.

There's something quite special in a very disturbing way, about a man who decides to rape and murder a child.
Something about the moment when they choose a specific victim, and KNOW that they are going to end that child's life, that I never get desensitized to, even when it's a fictional tale.

I don't mean to imply that "The Lovely Bones" was a bad film, because it wasn't.
I felt that it was incredibly well done, and the performances, especially Stanley Tucci as the murderer, were great. I think I just didn't like the subject matter.
As a father of a daughter, I think I was more disturbed by this than usual.

Mark Walhberg plays Susie's father, who has an incredibly hard time letting go of Susie, and moving on with his life. From the in-between, Susie finally realizes her father would never move on, even though she wanted him to.

"I knew then, he would never give me up. He would never count me as one of the dead. I was his daughter, and he was my dad....and he had love me....as much as he could."

Exactly.

It was moments like that, that forced me to think of how things would be for me, if God forbid I were ever in Mr. Salmon's position.
And THAT, is what really depressed me about this movie.
It made me realize that even if one got their hands on the person who killed their child, and could exact any revenge they deemed necessary on them, it would never equal the pain and devastation that their loss levied against them.

If you don't get bothered by such things, then I recommend seeing "The Lovely Bones".
It's a well acted, stylish (albeit a little over the top with the "in-between" visuals) film, that makes you think about how precious life is, and how you never know when the last time you will see someone will be.

NOW....

Here's what I LOVED about "The Lovely Bones"!
I grew up in Chester, PA....and as a child, I was taken to The MacDade Mall quite a bit.
Sadly, the mall is a barren ghost town now, with a Kmart as a remaining anchor store, and last time I was there, (shortly before shooting began on the film) there were just a couple spaces that were occupied by stores.

BUT, Peter Jackson's crew restored the mall to it's 1970's glory for the filming, and although it's just facades, it *felt* like the mall I remembered as a child. Not in some washed out old photos, but in full color high resolution glory.

The screengrabs I found however, are not.
But if you're from Delco, and you spent your childhood at that mall, you HAVE to love this.....