Review: Joshua 2007

I believe I stumbled across this one in a “cheap DVD” bin, years ago… I thought it looked interesting and I wasn’t disappointed. Since I own it, I’ve seen “Joshua” many times over the years and I’ve even visited internet forums in an attempt to better understand the intricacies of this quiet and disturbing little film. I have always really liked this movie, I just find it so captivating and extremely effective.
“Joshua”, of course, centers around a young boy named Joshua, he’s nine years old and he’s just become a big brother. However, Joshua is quite different from other children, he seems very mature for his age, very smart and reserved. Is he just a normal, quiet, bookish child? Or is it more than that? What’s really going on behind those dead eyes? Well, after the birth of his baby sister, Joshua’s behaviour becomes steadily more disconcerting. Once he (somehow..) triggers the baby to never stop crying, his mother starts to spiral down into severe postpartum depression, and bit by bit his whole family begins to fall apart around him. Except for his uncle, who Joshua seems to idolize, he’s the one person in his life that is always there for Joshua, always standing up for him and seeming to understand him a little better than everyone else…
“Joshua” probably sounds like it’s copying “The Omen”, but there’s absolutely nothing supernatural at play in this film, everything that’s wrong with Joshua is just psychological, and I find it makes for a very interesting film to watch a nine year old sociopath subtly tear his family apart. The reason why he does all this is up for speculation, but there are some very interesting theories online. Anyway, I really like “Joshua”, it’s very well-made, totally creepy and intriguing, but it is the kind of movie you need to watch a few times to get a good understanding of it.