Thirteen: The Movie That Reflects the Age

By: Atanu Roy

As the movie begins, two thirteen-year-old girls are sitting, facing each other, taking drugs and hitting each other in the face. Not a common start for movies, but the start, as well as the name, gives a clear idea about the subject of the movie, Thirteen.

Based on a true story, Thirteen shows the life of a girl named Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood), who comes from a broken family. As she tries to keep up with the so-called modern girls, she becomes a drug addict, starts hanging around with gangs, and eventually becomes a “bad girl.”
Tracy was a good student in school. She had good friends. But she was not as normal as she appeared. She had a tendency of hurting herself by cutting her wrist. As she starts to hang around with the “hot girls” in the school, she starts to change. She leaves her old friends, starts smoking and using drugs, and pierces her tongue and belly button. Her new friend, Evie (Nikkie Reed), introduces her to all this and eventually comes to live in her home. Tracy becomes more and more impatient with her family, especially with her mother who tries really hard to keep everything together. Her father doesn’t live with them, but still tries to help her. But she goes to far to be easily retrieved.

The movie Thirteen is a great work by director Catherine Hardwicke. Overall, the movie talks about our society. But it also poses out one big question: Are our teenagers really this bad off?