When two teenaged sisters were arrested for murdering their 43-year old mother in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, the community was shocked. Shock was followed by outrage when it came out that many of their friends had been aware of the murder plot. Some had even offered advice on the best way to kill their mother and get away with it.
Canadian law has supported treating minors guilty of serious crimes differently from their adult counterparts. As a result, the young killers served short sentences and their privacy has been protected. The hope with this treatment is that young offenders can be reintegrated into society and contribute in a positive way.
Despite the court’s ruling to keep their real names a secret, their names are searchable online. For this discussion, however, we had decided to use the pseudonyms used by Toronto Star Journalist Bob Mitchell.
Join us at the quiet end today as we talk about the cold-blooded murder of Linda Anderson by her daughters, Sandra and Beth. In addition to the dysfunctional family relationships in the Andersen family, we hope to examine the psychology behind the girls’ friends who chose to keep quiet and, in some cases, help out.
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I enjoyed listening to your commentary on this movie. Regarding Edward’s wanting to meet, or confront, Connie’s paramour, I never found this odd. I think Edward is trying to reconcile the revelation of Connie’s actions and the former reality that Edward has lived with for perhaps his entire life up to this point. To step outside the film a moment, Richard Gere is typically, I picture, playing the role of a stud like Paul; it’s a role-reversal, and I think in a way Edward feels this way; in some sense, Edward thought he was the Paul (not in the sense of interloper, but in the sense of being “the man”) only to realize that he is decidedly not, and so he is compelled to meet the man he can never be. Erupting is a pervasive insecurity that comes on so suddenly and so powerfully that he strikes the enemy, the eternal threat, the irresistibly seductive outsider in order to eliminate it so that he can be what he used to believe himself to be. It is the value of the comparative; obliterate the contrast. Of course, he does not think it through; but I think within reason Edward’s drastic measure is proportionate to the weight of his revelation. The whole thing is unfortunate, but I see a logic that almost can’t unfold in any other way under the circumstances, which, frighteningly, are pretty ordinary circumstances.
Has this been taken down? It won’t play for me and just keeps showing 0:00 when I hit play.
I just tested it and it played for me. I’m not sure why it’s not playing for you. Maybe restart your device and try again?