I AM YOU (originally IN HER SKIN)

Pepe's View:

An Australian Film with almost a who's who of Australian actors - Sam Neill, Guy Pearce, Mirando Otto, Justine Clark and Rebecca Gibney. The director and writer, Simone North, tells us from the outset that this is a true story which occurred only  few years ago.  As a result I spent most of the film wondering what the real Barber family thought of the film and the actors interpreting their pain.
The movie takes us on a journey as we follow Rachel Barber (Kate Bell) a beautiful young girl who has everything to live for and the world at her feet.  Her family is a normal caring supportive family whose lives are thrown into chaos when Rachel disappears.  The film then moves from Rachel's exact whereabouts to the parents frantic attempts to find theur daughter and their efforts to get the police involved.
Rachel is tricked by the lure of cash to go to the flat of a friend (slightly older) who used to babysit the Barber children when they were young.  Caroline is plain, overweight and lonely -  everything Rachel is not.  That Ruth Bradley manages to evoke our sympathy for this revolting, confused and psychotic character is a tribute to her acting ability - a talent to watch.
The movie is really nothing more than an exposition of the events of that night and the days following and attempts to reveal the pain and desperation of both Rachel's and Caroline's parents although for different reasons.
This is a movie that would have made a great documentary (which it really is)  - it gives us little more than plot.
It is worth seeing for the performance of Ruth Bradley however who is a stand out.

My Score:  6/10

Ma's View:

Yes, the movie is all plot but a very powerful, tense and dramatic plot based on true events.  Even though we know half-way through what has happened we are still interested to see if the parents' anguish will be relieved by at least the discovery of what has happened to their daughter.  The story is conveyed by the strength of the actors, Miranda Otto in particular, and Guy Pearce, as the parents who will not give up hope until all hope is gone. 

It is scary to think that a seriously disturbed person could have been overlooked by her own parents and remain basically untreated for her condition leading her to commit such a horrendous crime.  It is a tribute to the acting of Ruth Bradley that while we hate and fear her, we still feel sorry for her at the end of the movie.  And then I ask myself if the story has not been sanitised to make the victim appear "perfect" for the sake of the Barber family, when in real life there was perhaps more reason for this seemingly unprovoked attack?  Just a thought - nothing is ever quite so black and white in real life.

My score:  7.5/10