Movie Review: Speak
Jul. 7th, 2011 07:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
semiotic_pirateSpeak. A movie released in 2003.
I don't know why people were slamming this movie over on Rotten Tomatoes. Just wrote the following review there and decided to cross-post it here.
I found it slow paced and low key, but it was actually pretty darn good. Heck. It made me cry at the end and elicited a gamut of emotions during. Cathartic.
Spoiler Alert. Go no further, avast!
It is from the perspective of a girl, Melinda, that just started high school. A girl that got raped at a party over the summer. A girl that was then ostracized and publically humiliated and taunted by her rapist, former friends and peers. (You find out later that only the rapist is taunting her about the rape itself.)
The only one of her fellow students - a girl who just transferred from out of state - makes any effort to befriend her. Her mother is self-involved, her father is clueless, her former best friend is a heartless bitch. This is the story of her struggle to deal with her situation. In each scene it looks like the girl gets thinner and thinner, her effort to appear drab is painful to watch.
Her lab partner, a nice stand up guy, tries to draw her out (and although she admires his forthrightness in confronting racist comments disguised as "discussion" by a teacher) she can't let him in because she's become leery of men. She does eventually allow him in and he takes her side.
She starts expressing herself through art, and the art teacher (Mr. Freeman) seems to have a knack for drawing her out through her creativity. Ivy, a girl from art class, starts being nice to her partway through the year. As the situation gets more painful, and the memories are flashed back to, I just wish I could reach through the screen and do some major damage to the rapist, M's former best friend that later hooks up with him, and all the taunters. And then new girl ditches her! And art teacher is harsh! And the 'rents can't add 2 + 2 when they read her the riot act on her grades instead of finding out why she's failing out.
S for staightforward, Nathaniel. Speak up and make yourself heard! Visit with the mind of The Great One and rip the truth from the earth with your two angry hands. If something's eating at you, you've got to find a way to use it.
I cannot believe how long it took M to even think about talking to someone about her rape, and that she then remains silent. But. She does reaaly start speaking up for herself. And recreating herself out of the ashes of her former life. She tells one person, finally, and the first reaction is disbelief and anger. But then there is belief. And hope. And the possibility of a brighter future. And even a bit of justice, in the end.
I don't know why people were slamming this movie over on Rotten Tomatoes. Just wrote the following review there and decided to cross-post it here.
I found it slow paced and low key, but it was actually pretty darn good. Heck. It made me cry at the end and elicited a gamut of emotions during. Cathartic.
Spoiler Alert. Go no further, avast!
It is from the perspective of a girl, Melinda, that just started high school. A girl that got raped at a party over the summer. A girl that was then ostracized and publically humiliated and taunted by her rapist, former friends and peers. (You find out later that only the rapist is taunting her about the rape itself.)
The only one of her fellow students - a girl who just transferred from out of state - makes any effort to befriend her. Her mother is self-involved, her father is clueless, her former best friend is a heartless bitch. This is the story of her struggle to deal with her situation. In each scene it looks like the girl gets thinner and thinner, her effort to appear drab is painful to watch.
Her lab partner, a nice stand up guy, tries to draw her out (and although she admires his forthrightness in confronting racist comments disguised as "discussion" by a teacher) she can't let him in because she's become leery of men. She does eventually allow him in and he takes her side.
She starts expressing herself through art, and the art teacher (Mr. Freeman) seems to have a knack for drawing her out through her creativity. Ivy, a girl from art class, starts being nice to her partway through the year. As the situation gets more painful, and the memories are flashed back to, I just wish I could reach through the screen and do some major damage to the rapist, M's former best friend that later hooks up with him, and all the taunters. And then new girl ditches her! And art teacher is harsh! And the 'rents can't add 2 + 2 when they read her the riot act on her grades instead of finding out why she's failing out.
S for staightforward, Nathaniel. Speak up and make yourself heard! Visit with the mind of The Great One and rip the truth from the earth with your two angry hands. If something's eating at you, you've got to find a way to use it.
I cannot believe how long it took M to even think about talking to someone about her rape, and that she then remains silent. But. She does reaaly start speaking up for herself. And recreating herself out of the ashes of her former life. She tells one person, finally, and the first reaction is disbelief and anger. But then there is belief. And hope. And the possibility of a brighter future. And even a bit of justice, in the end.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-08 12:01 am (UTC)She was great
Date: 2011-07-08 01:51 am (UTC)Re: She was great
Date: 2011-07-08 01:32 pm (UTC)