My quick rating - 6,4/10. Last #Oscars2023 nominee for me to catch before the show. Avatar The Way of Water isn't available quite yet. I will say upfront I have no idea what this is even about and obviously have not read the book so I am going in completely blind. I did a quick bit of reading to enlighten myself on the subject since the conversations seemed a bit to "real" to me. Took no time to find this "The film is a striking interpretation of a novel that is loosely based on a horrifying true story about women in a Mennonite colony who were raped persistently by the men in their community while they slept, attacks the colonists initially blamed on Satan or hallucination."(Time.com) With knowing that, it makes the story that much more important to see but doesn't make the movie anymore exciting. I don't need action all the time but this is mostly just repitious conversation. The incredibly well-casted group of women must decide if they should live with it, fight the men or just up and leave. And that should be the main premise and move on form there but instead this constant question is asked over, and over. It is more split in two groups since you have the elder women led by Frances McDormand and the more effected women, mainly being Rooney Mara. The younger group are the ones being attacked but there reactions always seemed like they read it in a book, or someone told them about it. I never got that believable feeling that it happened to them which I found distracting from the point of the flick. Still the dynamic between the whole group is probably one of the best cast interactions you will see and is by far the highlight here. Just the pacing is monotonous and even though it wasn't overblown at 104 minutes, it is still a long haul to sit through with so little happening. The filter used to film this one makes it feel even more depressing that it already was. Not my cup of tea for best picture but still an important piece of a history lesson.
Streaming free on Amazon Prime or available fro rental all around.
