YNOT at the Movies

One of the powerful tricks that religions use to control their believers' minds is to create hopes and fears about what would happen in their afterlife. The actions of the faithful are seriously conditioned by that singular teaching. That's also the predominant mindset of a group of women in an isolated religious Mennonite colony, portrayed in the writer-director Sarah Polley's gripping female-centered drama "Women Talking" (USA 2022 | 104 min.). The film is adapted from Miriam Toews's novel, which was inspired by a true 2009 rape case in Bolivia where nine men were convicted for drugging and raping more than a hundred women and girls. But this film isn't about that horrible case, it centers on how a group of women collectively determine their own destiny and empower themselves through a ferocious and intelligent debate. It's a showcase of terrific ensemble performances from a group of talented actresses.

In an unspecified secluded location surrounded by crops and farm houses, the women in a Mennonite community are suffering from a series of rapes that have been characterized by the men in the community as the acts of ghosts. But when a rapist is caught, the women are given 24 hours to decide if they will forgive the accused, as demanded by their religion. If they do, life will go on as usual. However, if they don't, the women have to leave the colony and lose the chance of going to heaven. No matter how ridiculous this sounds, that's their religion's teaching, and these illiterate women have to consider accordingly.

But this time, the women decide to put democracy to work. They vote on three options: stay put and do nothing; stay and fight back; or take the women and children only and leave. The first option, represented by Scarface Janz's (Frances McDormand) family, gets the least number of votes. The other two options get the same amount of votes. To decide what to do next, two families gather at a barn's hayloft to debate. The only male character in the film, the gentle and college graduate ex-community member August (Ben Whishaw), is invited to the debate to take the minutes of this meeting for these women.

One family is Agata's (Judith Ivey). Her elder daughter Ona (Rooney Mara) is very pregnant from a rape but is undecided on whether to fight or leave. Agata's younger daughter Salome (Claire Foy), however, is full of rage and ready to take revenge on the perpetrators.

The other family is Greta's (Sheila McCarthy). Her elder daughter Mariche (Jessie Buckley) also wants to fight back hard, despite the religious teaching. Greta's younger daughter Mejal (Michelle McLeod) uses smoking to deal with the trauma from the violence she suffered.

The long, hard, eloquent, sometimes philosophical debate sets the path of their future and the action they will all take when the sun comes up.

As in her fantastic documentary "Stories We Tell" (2012), the writer-director Sarah Polley has demonstrated what a great storyteller she is. But in this fictional drama, she is focusing on her more ambitious goal of letting women talk and letting their voices heard, in addition to unfolding a captivating story.

She uses her characters to show what women can achieve collectively and intelligently, and she is less interested in the perplexing details in her story. We don't know where these women live, nor their relationships with other men. They seem to live a simple life with no electricity and operating only on horse powered wagons, yet they have modern tiled kitchen floors and wheelchairs for the disabled. Are those children all results of rape, or are they born from typical married couples? Why are these two families deciding for the whole colony, and where are the authorities?

All these women are illiterate and don't seem to have a TV to watch and learn from, but almost all of them speak eloquently better than university professors giving lectures. Women are talking here, no kidding!

The beautiful desaturated color tone gives the film the feel of a timeless period drama that might have happened a long time ago. However, the film specifically tells us what era it was with a scene involving a 2010 census truck. Perhaps the film wants to make a point that issues such as violence against women is not something that only happens in the past.

Despite the empowerment these women demonstrate in their collective efforts, their future is still in doubt as long as they follow the path of their religious teaching.

"Women Talking" opens in the San Francisco Bay Area on Friday, January 6, 2023.