Jeanette Walls’ memoir done justice on screen

Imagine having a mentally unstable mother, who put more care into her paintings than feeding you, a dad whose sole way of teaching you to swim is throwing you into the deep end of the pool, and squatting in house after house in town after town; this is just a few of the scenes that plague Destin Daniel Cretton’s film, “The Glass Castle.” This bildungsroman is based on Jeannette Walls’ 2005 memoir and tells the hard to believe story of her upbringing with her three siblings and parents Rex and Rose.

Her father Rex, played by Woody Harrelson, is an alcoholic with big dreams and no motivation, while her mother Rose Mary, portrayed by Naomi Watts, was an apathetic painter who could care less about being a mom. As Walls, played by Brie Larson, and her three siblings drive their car that is barely on four wheels racing from “the feds,” Rex promises his children a Glass Castle. Constantly saying that “all this running around is just temporary,” the children grow out of dreaming big and into barely surviving.

In today’s world of uncertainty, The Glass Castle will give you faith in the  American Dream again.  Walls goes on to live a successful life despite having all odds against her for her entire adolescence. This movie is a comedy, a tragedy, and a coming of age story all in one. It is a masterpiece of human suffering equipped with all the things each and every one of us go through: utter tragedy, brutal anger, limitless love, and overwhelming joy. Go and see it for yourself; you will not be disappointed.