Don't choose this movie for light entertainment to be enjoyed with soda and popcorn. Bastard Out of Carolina tells a story of child abuse in a 50's family of the South so forcefully and well that forgetting it is not an easy task.

The star of the movie is Jena Malone playing movie's namesake, a bastard out of Carolina, called simply Bone by her family. A few years after Bone's birth, her mother Anney (Jennifer Jason Leigh) marries. Life is good, but the happiness ends as the husband dies in a traffic accident. When Bone is about ten years old, Anney marries again despite warnings of her family that the man, Glen (Ron Eldard), has a hot temper, and is not a good man. But Anney won't and can't see those sides of him.

Glen is desperately hoping for a son. While Anney is in the hospital in labor, Glen and Bone and her little sister are waiting in the car. Be it for the stress, plain sexual urges or reasons beyond my imagination, Glen tells Bone to come sit on his lap. The oppressive mood skillfully created by director Anjelica Huston is well enough to hint what is going to happen. Although little is shown and few words are spoken, Bone's distress is abundantly clear. Too ashamed to tell her mother, Bone keeps silent of the events.

Soon Glen loses his job and the family falls into poverty. Frustrated and angry at himself for being unable to fulfill his role as the head of the family, Glen turns his anger increasingly toward Bone. After several more incidents of sexual, mental and physical abuse, Bone is sent to the hospital after a hard beating from her step father. Anney, finally, can't avoid seeing the truth of the situation, but, being emotionally dependant on Glen, forgives him as he promises to change. Of course, nothing changes in the slightest.

There is no courting of the audience in this movie. The harsh scenes that make you cringe and hurt have nothing to soften them. You will be mad at Anney for her blindness, and her inability to leave Glen and take her children to safety, but as often happens in reality too, she's not capable of that. You will hate Glen, but as with the other characters, are forced to see also the other sides of his disturbed existence. Even in a scene narrated by Laura Dern as grown up Bone, she starts by saying, "He never meant to hurt me, not really, I told myself," despite soon continuing, "My dreams were full of hands that reached around doorframes; crept over the edge of the mattress; fear in me like a river."

Anjelica Huston's directing is solid, especially given that this is her first movie as a director, but it is not extraordinary. The performance from the many veteran actors of the cast is good across the board. Jennifer Jason Leigh is a perfect fit for the tough but inwardly fragile Anney. Ron Eldard's portrayal of a man slave to his violent urges works well. From the first scenes with him you'll start to worry for Bone and her family.

Jena, another first timer, starts out subdued, as she doesn't have many lines in the movie. However, what she lacks in the quantity of dialogue she more than makes up in expressiveness. The sad end scene showing only Jena's face in the flickering light of a camp fire, and still almost without spoken words but with Laura Dern's powerfully emotional narration, is an incredible feat for Jena. Her expression tells everything of the complex sorrow, hurt and enduring love of a child forced to grow up too soon. She won a Young Artist Award for her performance, and got nominations for four others. I think people who gave the award to somebody else must not have paid proper attention to this movie.

The subject of child abuse is not a new one, and many of the films dealing with it deserve merit. Bastard Out of Carolina is the one that in my opinion best manages to combine its raw agony with artistic merit. The directing and writing of the movie lacks the touch of genius that'd land it the very top scores. It does, however, have one of the most memorable child actress performances to date.