Badlands was certainly a weird movie. Throughout watching it in class I felt awkward to almost find it amusing how Martin Sheen's character seemingly kills people for no reason whatsoever. Not knowing the true story behind the film, I had no idea where any of it was going, and for a while, before Sheen's character kills the father, I thought that the film would be a typical romance movie about a rough boyfriend clashing with his girlfriends disproving father for an hour and a half before they learn to appreciate each other. The nonchalant manner in which Sheen's character killed people was very odd to watch, and while it didn't glorify violence, it sort of glorified Sheen and Sissy Spaceks' characters journey and struggle. They ride in cool cars, build a crazy tree house, and get in all sorts of adventures in cool landscapes (the locations for the film were very impressive). The film made it seem like what they were doing, running off and breaking the law, was very cool, and even after they get caught, Sheen's character keeps his place as a "cool person", casually conversing with the arresting officers.
This leads into what I don't like about the film. After learning the story behind it, the violent killing spree and the years of trials endured by the real girl, I felt like the film had cheated me. I feel that when a film is based off a true story it ought to convey the gist of that true story, which the movie doesn't do. In real life the murders were far more violent, Sheen's character killed more people (including a child), and the response to them was much harsher. In the movie the narration mentions that people were terrified of Sheen's character and that there were police hunting for him, but the movie never justifies that through the portrayal of the crimes. Another major point in the narration is when Spacek's character states that she got off easy with parole, which is far from the years in prison that her real life counterpart endured. All in all the movie chose to be nonchalant, and seems to have wanted to downplay the role of violence in the murders, but I feel that it lost out on dramatic material by treating murder so casually and having Spacek's character be an airhead about it.
