Karla | 
| Director: Joel Bender
Actors: Laura Prepon, Misha Collins, Patrick Bauchau, Emilie Jacobs, Alex Boyd
Studio: Monterey Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $24.95
Buy Used: $2.67
You Save: $22.28 (89%)
New (41) Used (21) from $2.67
Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 21565
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Ntsc, Widescreen
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 102 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: MTYD326832D
UPC: 012233268324
EAN: 0012233268324
ASIN: B000MNOXX0
Theatrical Release Date: 2005
Release Date: April 3, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 Factually corrupt. June 17, 2009
Andrew D. MacEwen (Oakland Gardens, NY)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When I saw a woman in the writing credits, I immediately knew what I was in for.
1) Although Paul had committed two rapes and attempted a third before meeting Karla, he did not plunge headlong into his solo career as the Scarborough Rapist until after they had met and she had started encouraging his sickest fantasies and most deviant behavior. The film reverses the sequence of events: it has Bernardo well into his career as rapist before he and Karla start to commit their mutual depredations. (e.g., A notorious police sketch of the Scarborough rapist that led to Paul's being detained and questioned was published after his eleventh rape, two-and-half-years after he and Karla met. In the film, this occurs almost immediately once they start dating.) This rearranging of events absolves Karla of having any real effect on Paul's fantasies and behavior.
2) The film omits Karla's encouragement of Paul's activities as a solo rapist. Paul's claim that Karla "set him off" is mentioned, but the filmmakers chose not dramatize any input on Karla's part. See #1.
3) The film portrays their relationship as abusive, with Paul constantly using Karla as a punching bag, escalating in frequency as their relationship spirals, thus creating the fraudulent possibility that some kind of "learned helplessness" syndrome contributed to her behavior. The dramatization certainly asserts quite openly that she couldn't leave him because of this "learned helplessness." In actuality, Paul did not hit Karla until the night he pounded her with a flashlight, at which point she immediately turned him in. And yet we are shown, instead of the brief flashlight attack, an extended and thoroughly bogus sequence in which Paul punishes Karla for having made a half-hearted attempt to leave him by sodomizing her with a gag in her mouth and then throwing her down the stairs and beating her some more. Then the story resorts to that familiar and facile standby with which we are all familiar from Lifetime and Oxygen and "Sleeping with the Enemy" -- Karla can't leave Paul because he'll hunt her down and kill her. Again, the real-life scenario was completely different: their relationship was mutual bliss until her beat her with the flashlight. And she left him immediately.
4) The film does not portray Karla procuring Paul's victims. Instead, it has Paul finding his own victims and bringing them back to the house to the surprise of Karla. This lie of omission is unforgivable.
5) Karla Homolka was aroused watching her loverboy rape his victims. This is mostly ignored by the filmmakers. Particularly dishonest is a scene in which she is seen reading American Psycho in bed while Paul is in the basement with a victim. In actuality, Karla was in the same room with Paul and his victim while reading the Ellis book. The book was intensifying the arousal she felt at what Paul was doing. When asked at the trial how could she could read a book and watch her husband rape a girl, she responded by saying, "I'm capable of doing two things at once." This is a classic sociopath's comment, as it is not clear just how seriously the answer was intended and to what extent she was goading her interrogator. But there is no true sense of Karla as a sociopath in this film, despite the coda that informs us that the real-life psychiatrist assessed her as one.
6) Initially, Karla displays curiosity when witnessing Paul's assault on a girl and following his instructions to kiss her. As the film progresses, however, she experiences pangs of conscience and is portrayed as a horrified onlooker. After one murder, we are treated to a risible scene in which she symbolically scrubs herself clean in the shower as Paul violates a Catholic schoolgirl in a nearby room. This are outrageous lies, since anyone who has seen the videotapes can testify that Karla was a perverted and slavering participant who needed no threats of violence or psychological manipulation to join in these depredations. During the climax of this second torture killing, we see that Karla has become hardened and emotionally deadened and that her moral qualms are gone, but this is a far cry from the perverted deviant she actually was.
Choosing to tell the story via Karla's self-serving accounts allows the filmmakers to sidestep the otherwise unavoidable conclusion that she was an eager, willing, and sadistic accomplice. While the interviewing psychiatrist in the wraparound narrative framework provides a reference point for the viewer that makes it clear Karla's words cannot necessarily be trusted, the dramatization itself manages to suggest that Karla was essentially a woman whose low self-esteem ran so deep that she participated in these activities mostly to keep Paul happy and ensure that she wouldn't lose him. Any faint glimmerings of sadistic enjoyment (and they are very few and very faint) displayed by Karla are subtly passed off as the ill effects of Paul's "victimization" of her.
Relationships like these are mutually toxic, though not necessarily equally so in both directions. If we can assume as a matter of course that Karla would not have done these things without a partner like Paul, then we should be able to consider the possibility that that Paul's behavior was affected by the presence of Karla in no small measure.
Alas, we live in a society which steadfastly refuses to believe in female depravity unless its presence is attributed to the pernicious influence of a patriarchal, white-male "hegemony." Films like this are factually corrupt and disgusting.
Interesting, yet not entirely accurate. March 7, 2009
Lady_Goodman (canada)
This movie is very good if you want to scratch the surface of what Paul and Karla were involved in. It doesn't come close to revealing the herendous acts they committed, and I am aware that is very difficult without it bordering on child pornography or a snuff film. However, there are certain facts in the movie that are left out, which I think could be included in a tasteful way. Also, this movie does not examine Karla's role deep enough. There are things that anyone who follows the case knows as fact that Karla did rather than Paul that aren't included in the movie, and why I am not sure. There are also aspects of her personality which seem to just be left out of the film. Misha Collins did a great job of playing Paul Bernardo, right down to his voice. Whereas Laura Prepon did a good job, it was difficult for me to tell if she was really playing Karla or just playing herself and how she would react under the circumstances. I enjoy this movie enough to own it, but I would recommend that if this is all you have seen about Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, you read the book Invisible Darkness: The Strange Case Of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka by Stephen Williams for more information. There are plenty of other books out there to read as well, such as Deadly Innocence and Lethal Marriage: The Unspeakable Crimes of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolkabut I would recommend Williams' book because he very indepthly examines particularily Karla's role in everything that went on, and makes no excuses for her. There is a lot examined about Karla in that book. There is something different about Karla than Paul. Unfortunately, there are a lot of Paul Bernardos, but fortuately, or at least we would hope, there are not a lot of Karla Homolkas. If you have only seen this movie as a reference for Karla and Paul, I would definitely recommend doing some reading on them if you are interested in finding out more about the truth. Because this was just more a re-enactment of their crimes brought to the spotlight, and it barely scratches the surface. It is definitely not the best movie as far as quality, but it makes for an interesting watch, and an interesting look into the lives of two very depraved individuals.
 I'll be in therapy forever November 25, 2008
Psych Client (Some Where, Out There)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I only gave this a great rating because it is a real depiction of sadism, evil and I hope it saves other girls from someone like this.
I've been through a rough relationship with a Paul type. It was three years of hell mixed in with intense passion just to keep me attached and desperate. Men like him know weaknesses and play on them. I had family issues, abuse at home, issues with my parents. Men like this look for girls that are vulnerable, needy and craving love.
Men like this are not wired right. I was only 15 at that time and now in my late 30's I can't believe I was so naive.
I'll be in therapy forever.
OK for a Hollywood-version of Karla Homolka November 17, 2008
Mark
First, it was tough for me to watch this. Not because of the subject matter but because I actually knew Karla. Growing up in St. Catharines and going to the same high school as Karla and her sisters did, and living literally a three minute walk from where Kristen French was abducted, it's hard to get past the differences in what was filmed to what happened in reality.
Overall, the acting is fine and Laura Prepon does a good job, but it was stylized just a bit too much and a bit too far removed to accurately represent the area where everything took place. For viewers who weren't too close to the action it won't be an issue.
Good for a Saturday night rental if you're interested in True Crime.
Acurate Film With Inredibly Good Acting November 14, 2008
Ivonne E. Garcia (Texas, USA)
This film is a keeper. It is disturbing, but those who already knew the tale of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka already knew it would be. The film was extremely accurate and the actors played their roles flawlessly. The only thing that kept me from giving this movie 5/5 is that fact that Karla is somewhat viewed as a victim of Paul. She is as guilty as he is. She was no victim.
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