I'm no expert on the case but I know this isn't how it went down

I agree, they portrayed Paula as Sylvia's BFF at the end of the movie. I thought according to the trial transcripts that Paula was also convicted of murder, not just guilty because she was an accomplice to the crime.

I am an expert on this case and this movie got it all wrong and left out important details. The movie sucked and was too watered down. Read the full case and you will see what I mean.

A few people have said similar things on here. I'm not sure though. Yes her life seemed messed up but it didn't seem that bad in fact they seemed like pretty common problems. This is purely based on this film, I haven't read up on any facts.

The way she behaved around the young men, the kid with glasses in particular made me feel uncomfortable from the off so she was a weirdo from the start.
However.. I did see the girl next door before this and that might have something to do with my feelings on this character I already knew she would be horrific.

I did not like how they portrayed Paula. I don't think she had any remorse at all. She named her baby after her evil mother ffs!


-
'frosties are just cornflakes for people that can't face reality'

While I agree totally that the film softened the portrayal beyond recognition, there is a great unanswered question in this case. Up until the summer of 1965, Gertrude Baniszewski was to all appearances a normal person -- albeit one with a hard-knocks life. Yes, she apparently beat her kids quite a bit, but a lot of otherwise perfectly normal people did in those days. (Still do.)

Then she met the Likens girls, and a couple months of madness ensued -- beyond any excuse and almost beyond description -- after which, she went back to being normal again. She was a model prisoner, well-liked by people who met her, and never again broke the law in any serious way. So what happened?

I think the film was trying to answer that question but fumbled. By concentrating on the bad things that were happening to Gertrude, and seriously underplaying the extremities that were inflicted on Sylvia, viewers came away with the impression that someone wanted us to sympathize with Gertrude.

And that, people did not want to do.

http://redkincaid.com

For me,part of the problem was the Likens parents.

They never once checked up on their girls, even after the weird, interrupted phone call.

Interesting, too, that the Prosecutor got custody of the surviving girl; I guess the parents' "career" was more important to them.