Blue Steel is not only a terrific movie but one of those cinematic rarities - cinema from a female viewpoint. By that I don't mean it's about babies and relationships, a common misconception of 'female viewpoint', but rather it's the experience of a male world from outside. In this film the men are the sex objects, and the aggression is female aggression. In fact one of the things this film studies is the different reactions the heroine experiences with regard to her actions just because she is female, cop or no, and is expected to act in specific ways. I think one of the reasons it is consistently overlooked is that male reviewers just don't get it and those who do don't like it. They don't like the way everything is turned upside down. Curtis isn't nurturing, she's not a victim, she doesn't fear her abusive father, she's attracted to a violent man but is equally callous about him when she realises what he is, she doesn't break down and try to change him, reform him, or marry him. Nor does she go in fear of him. Be brave gents and let the film talk to you without your cherished ideals of womanhood.
Review of Blue Steel
