Movie Review: “The Family I Had” Leaves You Fractured
SYNOPSIS: Charity walks a fine line between love and fear of her son Paris. It’s been ten years since he killed her daughter and she is left questioning his chance at redemption and her ability to forgive. We peel back the layers to reveal a family history previously marked by intra-family violence as she embraces motherhood for a third time with a new baby boy. Multiple accounts allow for conflicting points of view, leaving the audience questioning where the ultimate truth and accountability lies.
The difficulty of watching The Family I Had is that it is a documentary. The fact that this atrocity happened, a child murdered his sister, is unfathomable to most people. Yet, it happens, and it happened to Charity Bennett whose fractured heart emanates from the screen. Directors Carlye Rubin and Katie Green have made a film that leaves you to judgement, and leave them and their participants to the story. Such a simple task gives The Family I Had a fresh narrative to elaborate its dark tragedy.
There are several times, watching the Bennett family, that you will judge them. There are red flags abound. Histories of drug addiction, murder, and mental illness plague this one Texas family and lands right upon Paris’ head; the twelve year old boy that brutally murdered/ stabbed to death his four year old sister. Just saying that last line makes me cringe, but as Paris appears unflinching in his emotions, the audience is left curious; Can a human being have no feelings? Sure Paris speaks of the feelings a person should have when they have destroyed their family, but you cannot help but think that his sentiments are practiced. Diagnosed two months before his sister’s murder with homicidal/ sociopathic tendencies, the audience will feel like this horror could have been prevented. Childhood videos are splashed across the film with Paris’ shaking his sister and saying, “Kill Charity’s children”. Yet, Rubin and Green do show video Paris loving and playing with his sister; as if she might have been the least person he would have killed. The audience cannot shake the tearing feeling of “Why?” and “What happened?”. For Charity, her son has a mental illness and should not be locked up in prison for his life, but in an institution for help. It is in this notion that the film does get political, but through the Bennett’s perspective.
It is no secret that a lot of inmates have mental illness, and The Family I Had is an unavoidable commentary on the lack of mental health discussion, outreach, and aid for children and inmates. It is unnatural for a thirteen year old to kill their sister, and, as seen, Paris’ may not be crazy as much as sick. The young man is a genius with good grades, artistic talent, and eloquence, which is why you know he knows what he is supposed to feel….. but you also know he does not. Is he supposed to love his mom and her child after, Phoenix? Yes! Does he? Debatable. Showing the sincere and tragic complexity of Charity’s and Paris’ situation makes Carlye Rubin and Katie Green a directing duo to watch. I am talking MAKING A MURDERER potential of addictive cinema that leaves you crossed as to what you would have done to make things better and keep a life from being lost. Personally, Rubin and Green did the best thing any documentarian can do, especially when approaching such a precarious situation; they elaborated that, in the end, you would not want to be Charity Bennett. No mom wants to hear, accept, and work with their child’s murderous tendencies, which it seems Paris’ had from a very young age. For More Information On The Family I Had Click Here.
