Case 39
Category: Horror

Review by Sherry Saturno:

RATING (Out of 5 SocialWorkersSpeak.org Megaphones):

PLOT: Earnest Child Services Social Worker Emily Jenkins (Renee Zellweger) uncovers what she believes to be horrific abuse and neglect suffered by 10-year-old Lillith Sullivan (Jodelle Ferland). Passionate and driven, Emily enlists the aid of her detective friend  Mike Barron (Ian McShane)  to intervene and rescue young Lily from being burned alive in a gas oven by her parents, Edward and Margaret Sullivan (Callum Keith Rennie and Kerry O’Malley).

Emily is haunted by her own childhood demons involving her unstable mother, and is deeply touched by Lily’s suffering and isolation. When Lily begs her not to put her into foster care, Emily petitions for legal guardianship and takes her into her home.

Lily begins therapy sessions with psychologist Dr. Doug Ames (Bradley Cooper) where she reveals to him dark aspects of her personality that unnerve and threaten him. Gradually, people around Lily begin to die. A young boy in her therapy group suddenly murders his parents. Dr. Ames dies as well. Emily begins to suspect that Lily is not what — or whom — she seemed.

Renee Zellweger and Jodelle Ferland in Case 39.

Emily’s idealism begins to unravel, and she unsuccessfully attempts to rescind guardianship of Lily. She breaks down, alternating between fits of anger and overwhelmed by a sense of loss. Realizing that everyone around Lily is at risk, she desperately formulates a plan.

WHY SOCIAL WORKERS AND THE PUBLIC SHOULD MISS THIS FILM: This reviewer had high hopes for this film. It began on an authentic enough note portraying a dedicated and compassionate social worker who was relentless in her efforts to save a child. However, the film rapidly dissolved into shock value tangents interwoven with gratuitous violence. It no longer was relevant what Emily’s profession was, as she was locked into a formulaic thriller.

 Case 39 reinforces the stereotype that all social workers are child protective service workers, which does not expose the public and the media to our colleagues who work in administration, policy, politics, etc. Additionally, this film also highlights the banal perception of a social worker as a harried and frazzled individual, overwhelmed with too high of a caseload and inundated with stacks of case files.

In the beginning of this film, Dr. Ames suggests to Emily that she represents the number to call for people who don’t have anyone else. As social workers, we know that for our clients who are completely alone, we can make the difference between life and death. This film just isn’t our vehicle to illustrate it.

National Association of Social Workers member Sherry Saturno, LCSW, DCSW, lives in Westchester, New York. She is the 2010 NASW-New York State/Westchester Division Social Worker of the Year.

Want to read more about Case 39 on SocialWorkersSpeak.org?  Independent film critic Forrest Hartman discussed the film with us in December. Click here to read that feature.