Ultimate Betrayal

This film is based on a true story of a dysfunctional family. It tells the story of the physical, sexual and mental abuse that was rampant in this family and of the now-adult children's attempts to overcome their experiences and regain control of their lives. Some of them consider doing this by going to court, even though their father is a respected public figure.

It sounds like a recipe for hype, but the performances are good and are restrained, allowing the drama and complexity of the subject matter to speak for itself.

This is definitely not a film to watch with your kids, as it portrays several episodes of abuse through flashbacks and descriptions. I was surprised at the frank (though not particularly graphic) depiction of this abuse. It has a very serious approach to the subject.

One thing I really liked--and I thought it was well-written and well-acted, avoiding melodrama--was that the characters' positions change as things unfold. As they talk with each other and think about things, as memories are unearthed, they realize that what they went through as a family had a different effect on each child, and that things are not as black-and-white, cut-and-dried as they at first seemed. Also, it does not have a completely happy ending; some issues remain unresolved. I appreciated the filmmakers' refusal to simplify the issues and characters just so they could wrap it up between commercials.

My sister was an extra in it. We're exactly the same, so really, if she was in it then I was in it. She was in the church choir scene. If you watch closely, she rolls her eyes when they do a close-up. She's pretty cool. At least I think so. She's going to be a big star eventually. Yup, we're going to move to Australia together and join the acting world down under. So you should watch this moving solely for the reason of seeing my sister/self. Have a great day. Now, because they require 10 lines of text I'm going to tell a story. So this one day, I was walking down the street. Yup, that's the story. Oh, I guess I could tell you what I found at the end of the street... an intersection! It was called Younge street. So walked up that street. Days and nights passed until I reached a sign that said "Welcome to the town of Younge, where the street ends". Yup, that was it, I'd gotten to the end of the street. So, this other day, I was walking down the street, and that day turned into another and another, and finally I made it home. By the time I had returned to Toronto aliens had taken over and they were ruling all humans. The only animals able to defeat the aliens were guinea pigs, so I rushed into the nearest pet store and bought 5 new guinea pigs. I kept them in my back pack to ward off the dangerous creatures. Eventually the aliens got tired of ruling humans and thought it would be more fun to put a politician in charge, so that's what they did. His name was Mike Harris. Let me tell you, the guinea pigs didn't work anymore...

And that's why you should watch Ultimate Betrayal.