First off the film itself is dull and awful. Terrible acting and a terrible script. But the worse part (and I know this from friends who have had interaction with the real characters) is that they are making Karla a victim when she was the mastermind of most of these sick acts - she was not a victim and the fact that she is portrayed as one is an insult to the true victims and it shows how a sick, immoral Hollywood would praise a killer - why not they want Roman Polanski back after he raped little girls.

How many times have you watched a crime film that has a ludicrous plot, or one that is too outrageous to entertain? "Karla" is one such film, but shockingly it is a true story. If you haven't heard of her, Karla Homolka is Canada's most hated woman, and with good reason, for what kind of woman marries a serial rapist, knowingly, after having facilitated his drug-assisted rape of her own sister, who dies as a result? But it gets worse, after that, Homolka helped Bernardo continue his reign of depravity.As its title suggests, this film is related from her viewpoint, so sees her minimising her role as far as possible, something she could not extend to Tammy's death because of the video evidence. The names of the other two murder victims have been changed, and obviously due to the usual constraints, a lot has been omitted, but this is a brave film.While it is true that the psychopathic Bernardo beat her severely, only a total douchebag would attempt to portray Homolka as a victim. That or the Attorney General of Ontario, but nuff said. "Karla" was released shortly after she was, the latter being an act that disgusted the Canadian public. The content of this film may disgust you, but don't blame the cast or the people behind it, they have done their craft proud.

I first became fascinated by the Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka case when I had to study it in my high school class on Canadian Law in 2005. The Ken and Barbie killers. It was the only part of the whole course that wasn't completely boring. It was also the same year Karla was freed from prison. I watched the French CBC interview she gave the night she was freed (what a stupid move for such a hated woman I would've thought dead by now). I also read almost all the books and watched several documentaries about the case too. I was much more interested in Karla than in Paul. Simply because sadistic serial rapists/killers like Paul, as sad as it is to say, are a dime a dozen. But Karla was unique. She was a young pretty little enigma from our own Canada, who also happened to be a sadistic serial rapist/killer. Some psychiatrists that have evaluated her say she's pure evil, others say she's an innocent victim, and some came out saying she's a complete mystery. I personally think she is a person who happened to have been born without a conscience, like some people are born without limbs or vision or hearing. I think had she never met Paul, she wouldn't have done anything like this in her entire life. But she did. And she has no remorse for what she did, at all. Neither does her family. In Stephen Williams' first book about the case, Invisible Darkness, it's documented that, although her family appear to be nice normal people, they didn't really seem to care about what she had done. They defended her, stuck by her, and her mother, Dorothy, was heard to have said "Well the girls are already dead, so might as well party" at Karla's going away party before she went to prison. My theory is that the whole Homolka family is psychotic.First time I watched the movie, I didn't like it. I was disappointed that the facts had been twisted the way they were. But the second time I watched it, I understood the whole point of having it be her side of the story. Because there are certain parts we don't know for sure exactly how they happened (the deaths of Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French not being videotaped), there are now three sides to this story: Karla's, Paul's, and the truth. Being told from her lying mouth was the only way they were able to make this movie. That, and also because Karla's compliant victim defense adds another layer of complexity to the story which might make it more interesting for some. She's still crazy, but it's a different kind of crazy you see. Since then, this has become one of my favorite movies. It really is well made and well acted. If it had been received better and not totally slandered by Canada (as a Canadian myself, I say you can't have a problem with this being based on a true story without having a problem with Bonnie and Clyde or Schindler's List), I think there could've been a possibility for Laura Prepon to have maybe even gotten an Oscar Nomination for this role. She probably thought it was going to be her big breakout role in Hollywood. And it could have been, especially after Charlize Theron received critical acclaim and an Academy Award for her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster. But now she'll be remembered as Donna Pinciotti from That '70s Show, which is what I'm sure she was trying to avoid by taking on such a challenging and dark role. But she played the murderous bitch perfectly, especially during the evaluation scenes between her and her psychiatrist, Dr. Arnold, who served as a proper mediator for her unreliable narration. In a way, she was playing two different characters. Both the Karla who's been reported as having an "indifferent, haughty and irritable" personality, and the compliant victim Karla from her version of the story. The real Karla was obviously not that good an actress.I've watched this movie with friends who knew nothing at all about the real case and they all liked it even though they thought it was sick and disturbing. But as sick and disturbing as this movie is, it's actually toned down through the movie's editing, as compared to what happened in real life. Almost every time I will watch the scenes of the psychotic rapes, torture, and murders of Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French (renamed in the film out of respect), I will cry. Although, one particular part always makes me laugh for some reason; when Karla mentions Demerol to Dr. Arnold, he asks her if she wants some. She then looks him dead in the eyes with a hateful expression on her face and just calmly says, "No". I don't know why, but that part always cracks me up! This movie has some flaws, as most movies do. For example, there are some minor omissions and a couple of names have been changed due to legal reasons. It's not perfect or a masterpiece by any means. And it doesn't have a moral at the end of the story, other than love makes you crazy. But it is a very good movie that seemed to get a lot of negativity that wasn't necessarily deserved. It is much better than it gets credit for.

Normally I'm the type of person who will dislike a movie because the acting or directing was bad. Karla, however, proposes an entirely different case for me. By all means, the acting and directing were great. That is why I couldn't give my review any lower then I all ready did. What makes Karla unforgivable is the fact that it says it's truth while really it is a lie. Karla is painted as a victim while her husband Paul commits all these horrible acts. She just stands there and watches while her husband does horrible things to young girls he kidnapped. The truth, Karla would help him rape and torture those girls. They video taped it so that the truth is out there. Karla not only participated in the horrible acts, but she was enjoying herself. What this movie does is give poor ignorant people almost two hours of making Karla Homolka look like this innocent abused woman who only wanted a fairy tale marriage and to make her husband happy. Then for the last minute of the film, it tells us in writing that she didn't get off for parole and that she never apologized to the families of the victims. And that is the movie. Please people, know the facts!!! Read the book, or even watch the criminal minds episode. Read the case online, anything! Anything but this horrible package of lies sticking up for one of the most evil people to ever live. Sorry if this review seems scattered, but I'm irate at the moment. This movie should never have been made.