We need to talk about Kevin...

Spoiler Alert!
Being a huge fan of Lionel Shriver's 2003 'We need to talk about Kevin' book, addressing the age-old nature/nurture question once more, I rushed to catch Ramsay's 2011 filmic adaptation that finally made its way to my nearby art-house cinema yesterday. Without the book's narration, I expected you'd inevitably lose the humour and sarcasm of Eva's letter writing toward Franklin (and get much less of a sense of her intellectual capacity, inner conflict and utter despair with her circumstances), but Swinton and Miller's acting was captivating and bewildering enough to keep the audience watching i.e. interested and guessing as to the state and future of things until the very climax. The cinematography and visual metaphors I loved - perfect for a seminar on the subject (note to self), with the redness of liquid paint, tomatoe paste/juice, red wine, and strawberry jam constantly and playfully alluding to blood, not to mention the 'nail biting/egg shell eating' and 'lychee/eyeball' allusions, among many others. The upbeat old/early rock and roll music soundtrack (i.e. Buddy Holly's 'Everyday') perfectly clashes with the theme (see Ireland's 'Constructing Crime' book [shameless plug] chapter on 'The role of the incongruent soundtrack in the representation of the cinematic criminal'). The scapegoat '(video-) game playing' supposed link to violence interestingly got added in possibly to address the concerns of some. I even thought it amazing how the three actors playing Kevin actually looked (as well as acted) incredibly alike. Had I not read the book though, I probably would have struggled keeping track of the two Eva enactors (the only clue as to who was who coming down to the length of her hair), particularly as the film is constantly fragmented, switching back and forth, and she doesn't seem to age at all, despite the film spanning over as many as 20 years. That probably was a small price to pay though.
Hard to accept that, in real terms, noone in her close community would ever come to truly accept her as what she actually was though, i.e. yet another of her son's victims. Are, in real terms, some people that cruel?
Intense throughout? Yes.
Oh, and (for those of you currently childless), if this film doesn't make you think twice about having kids, nothing will!
What did others think?