Movie Review Paper Sample: We Need to Talk About Kevin

Produced in 2011, We Need to Talk About Kevin is psychological thriller drama from a book by Lionel Shriver in 2003. Directed by Ramsay Lynne with Tilda Swinton and John Reilly as main actors, the movie contains that generally focus on hoe a mother of a psychologically derailed child suffers the aftermath of her childs horrific acts. Reilly acts Franklin father to a baby boy named Kevin (Ezra Miller), whom he cannot bond with because of his condition. Swinton takes the role of Eva Khatchadourian, who is a publisher and a writer, who gives her freedom and lifestyle to her family. Therefore, the main characters that the plot of the film focuses on are Eva, Franklin and the sociopathic teen, Kevin. The minor character is the sister to Kevin, Celia, who he kills due to his emotional imbalance. The aim of this paper is to give a synopsis of the Ramsay film discussing the points of abnormalities in the story and explain the relationship between Kevin and his mother focusing on their attachment. This will all be under the plot part. Secondly it advises on the appropriate clinical diagnosis and the difficulties in treating the condition Kevin has. Finally, the paper gives an overall opinion about the film expressing the authors stand on the movie.

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Plot

We Need to Talk to Kevin film focuses more on the relationship between Kevin and Eva, his mother. The struggles for parenthood for Eva begins during pregnancy where the Shriver in the book notes that even though everyone was happy for the pregnancy, the mother was skeptical and sad all the time such that even at the time of birth she refused to hold the baby. The movie also clearly shows this. This makes Kevin detaches from his father, which some critics to the movie insists that this is what made him evil and increased his mental deterioration.

As a baby, Kevin Cries incessantly, but only around Eva, and refuses any clumpsy attempts of affection showed to him by Eva. Kevin only shows affection and portrays happiness and disguise as a loving son when his father is watching him. This drives Eva crazy that it makes her through Kevin against the wall, when he was still small, breaking his arm. When Franklin asks what happened, Kevin covers up for his mother, using this to blackmail his mother. For example, he would ask her to skip errands to pick him from school. According to this papers interpretation, this is the beginning of the Evas tolerance for Kevins evils.

Evas problems continue even during bringing up Kevin, and as the film shows, the only time they actually were a bit of warmth between them was during bedtime stories read by her. The Robin Hood story was the main bedtime tale Eva used to read, and this might have played a great role in his character. When Franklin gives Kevin a bow and arrow, he teaches him archery making him an excellent marksman, which he continues to practice until he grows old enough to shoot his sister and father.

Eva and Franklins second child, Celia, is lively and cheerful one unlike the gloomy and naughty Kevin. However, her birth does not really lessen the tension in the family because of the psychopathic Kevin. Kevin goes ahead to kill Celias guinea pig and blinds her in one eye with a caustic cleaning fluid. Franklin, however and like always, protects Kevin and the pattern continues ruining the marriage with Eva. Eva continues to fear her son as she sees as he grows up he enjoys hurting others. This eventually leads to a massacre where Kevin locks the schools gymnasium and murdered several students with his bows and arrow, perfectly like Robin Hood. He was arrested immediately after this creating the anti-climax of the movie. The most astonishing this is that when Eva returned home after Kevin had turned himself in, she found Celia and Fraklin in her lawn, shot by arrows just before the massacre. The movie ends with Eva visiting Kevin at the penitentiary, with an aim of knowing the reason for his actions, but to no avail. The last resort to few instances of affection that Eva shows is when she hugs Kevin on her way out. Although the movie ends with a suspense on what happened to Kevin, it is clear that he was condemned to imprisonment or confinement for his rest of his and not psychological assistance.

The Difficulties in Treating the Condition Kevin and Appropriate Clinical Diagnosis

Psychopathy or sociopathy is the disease that Kevin suffers from, which is clear from his actions. The difficulty in treating the disorder, that is, according to Dr. Stout Martha the author of the Sociopath Next Door, is the disregard parents have to their children behaviors at an early stage. Other exertions include a violation of and rights of others during childhood and early adolescence, that a parent cannot control at all. In the movie, although Eva recognized that Kevin had problems, there is nothing much she could do apart because of Franklins protection of the boy. She finally gets to help the child, by letting the authorities arrest him, but is this really the correct diagnosis? Further, Martha insists that the major cause of sociopathy in children or adolescents is the void of affection by one of their parents and especially the mother. In the movie, Evas attachment to Kevin was wanting as explained in the plot. In fact, after the intentional slumming into a wall by his mother, it is like Kevin vowed to make his mum pay for that for the rest of her life by making sure she is guilty of his actions through the blackmail. Evidently, Eva cannot recuse herself from causing the psychopathy to her son, but was she right not to even mention this to the prison authorities to prevent his unfair prosecution?

From the above two questions raised, this paper vividly shows a disagreement in the mode of treatment given to Kevin. The best treatment would be to take Kevin to a psychiatrist or psychologist for treatment. The diagnostic treatment will vary according to the degree of psychopathy. They include neuropsychological assessment that determines the personality of a person, how he behaves when he is induced with anger as it is the main cause of violence. After the assessment, the patient is prescribed for medications to curb things like aggression, lack of focus, any threatening behaviors or anxiety. Phenytoin or Dilantin is commonly used as an anticonvulsant to repress aggressions such as Kevins impulsive behaviors to kill. According to Psych Central, while taking the medication, the patient should continue with psychotherapy to talk about his depression or stressing situations.

As an added advantage to the healing process, the family should also undergo a therapy session to help them deal with the psychopath member. Imprisonment or confinement should come as the last resort to help the sociopath. From the movie, it is clear Eva and Franklin failed to help their child in this manner. Further the authorities failed to exercise due diligence when they arrested Kevin before psychoanalysis procedure and confined him in prison. The likelihood of Kevin committing suicide in the prison are high due to depression of his actions.

In conclusion, it is my opinion that the movie is quite an informative and educative one especially for people dealing with psychopath patients. Its sequence of events, directed carefully in a chronological order, explaining step by step analysis of growth of the antagonistic character, is quite interesting and makes it easy to understand the movie. However, I fail to understand why the author of the story used in the film fails to explain the reasons for the refusal of psychoanalysis for Kevin, bringing up questions on the role of parents in a childs life. Further, the fact that the authorities refuses to first acknowledge the procedure by confining Kevin at first instance, shows a reluctance in the society to help the mentally challenged people. Therefore, as much as I liked the plot of the movie, I detest the treatment of the main character, Kevin, who is a victim of sociopathy.