WOMEN TALKING

Director: Sarah Polley
Starring: Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Sheila McCarthy, Judith Ivey, Ben Whishaw, Frances McDormand

The power religion has over people can be hard to grapple. Some fear the unknown wrath of God which informs many of life’s decisions. Writer/director Sarah Polley’s new film Women Talking is loosely inspired on a true story and tackles some of these questions. Polley uses the voice of a young girl as the narrator of this story as she states, “It’s doomsday and a call to prayer.” The women are not given much in a community run by the power men have over them. They’ve spent years being raped and beaten and are given two days to forgive their attacker. There’s a fear among them that they will not enter the kingdom of heaven if they don’t forgive the man. This cycle of abuse has gone on for too long when a few of them raise their hand stating they will no longer put up with the abuse. For them, it comes down to a vote 1) Stay 2) Fight 3) Leave. They are not in unity given this unknown fear. There’s Frances McDormand’s character Scarface Janz who refuses to leave to Claire Foy’s Salome who is adamant about running away to Rooney Mara’s Ona who is caught in the middle of this moral dilemma. The women in the colony range from young girls to the elderly who are all coming at this decision with different life experiences.

Here’s my review