MOVIES' DEPICTIONS OF RAPE RANGE FROM CAREFULLY HANDLED TO GRATUITOUSLY\GRAPHIC.Byline: Beth Pinsker Dallas Morning News Images of sexual violence on screen in the past year are diverse in their approaches and execution. Here's a quick appraisal. "Dead Man Walking": Brief flashback flash·back n. 1. An unexpected recurrence of the effects of a hallucinogenic drug long after its original use. 2. A recurring, intensely vivid mental image of a past traumatic experience. shots in black and white are counterbalanced with a severe moral condemnation of the crime. "Once Were Warriors": A teen's rape by a family friend ends in a suicide that provides the impetus for the film's redemptive conclusion. Handled with care. "Braveheart": With just the suggestion of rape, a man risks all to save his new wife and gets across the severity of the crime without any sexual violence. "Rob Roy Rob Roy [Scottish Gaelic,=red Rob], 1671–1734, Scottish freebooter, whose real name was Robert MacGregor. He is remembered chiefly as he figures in Sir Walter Scott's novel Rob Roy (1818). ": Brutal, uncompromising scene is filled with great acting and a serious treatment of the emotional consequences for both the victim and her husband. "Bandit bandit: see brigandage. Queen": Reality is often shocking, and this well-documented film about an abused woman tells the whole story, from her brutalization bru·tal·ize tr.v. bru·tal·ized, bru·tal·iz·ing, bru·tal·iz·es 1. To make cruel, harsh, or unfeeling. 2. To treat cruelly or harshly. to her bloody revenge to her redemption. "Leaving Las Vegas Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. ": While the attack is one more bleak element in a bleak film, the scene is treated with tenderness and is woven into the plot. "Priest": With no graphic images and wrenching morality, a Catholic priest decides whether he can break the seal of confession to help a young girl who's being abused by her father. "Kids": A gratuitously long shot of a teen-ager raping an unconscious girl ends the film. Its dramatic power comes from the knowledge that she has AIDS. "Love and Human Remains": A serial rapist-murderer hardly seems like comic relief comic relief n. A humorous or farcical interlude in a serious literary work or drama, especially a tragedy, intended to relieve the dramatic tension or heighten the emotional impact by means of contrast. for a witty art film, but the acting and repartee rep·ar·tee n. 1. A swift, witty reply. 2. Conversation marked by the exchange of witty retorts. See Synonyms at wit1. are smart enough to make it seem less jarring. "Eye for an Eye": With weak drama holding up the rest of the film, all the focus is on two inexcusably long and manipulative rapes. "Showgirls": Rape is thrown in as one more "erotic" element in this film, which seemingly tries to include every element of female degradation. "Strange Days": A man rapes and kills a woman simply to share the experience through virtual reality. "Doom Generation": A sick, bloody rape ends a sick, bloody movie. "Grosse Fatigue": Rape as a comic interlude in a French farce. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion