To start with, Thandiwe Newton is amazing to watch, beautiful, intelligent but earthy, fits her part of Sandra about as perfectly as could be done. Having said that, however, this is a very well made production, but painful to watch in various moments of the story. No spoilers here, but ending hits with a punch, but is not exactly an "ending" either, but more like a portal into maybe darker times ahead.
The general concept is that it captures the severe culture clash between a woman college professor from the "big city" (New Orleans) vs. The remote wilderness country and myopic small town social politics. Though she's highly intelligent, she misses some fundamental social cues along the way, and creates a stir by her reactions to an event which could have been handled differently, and vey likely bypass the horrific fate she eventually found herself in.
There comes a moment, when she actually prevents a deadly confrontation among some other men, and they seem to respect that for a moment . . . But then. It's an interesting case study of different psyches pushed together in a highly awkward situation, and catalyzed by one particularly psychopathic loser in the bunch who manages to drastically magnify the fate that awaits the professor.
But that's not the end . . . Far from it, but is far as this description goes, no spoilers here.
There are actually several layers of backstory, and conflicting threads woven into this tapestry, far too elaborate to fit in here, but does make this much more of an experience than just the minimal description offered here.
I very rarely offer a 9 point rating, but this film is unique in its own ways, and yes, I could watch Thandiwe in just about anything, and that would be worth a few stars just for that.
The general concept is that it captures the severe culture clash between a woman college professor from the "big city" (New Orleans) vs. The remote wilderness country and myopic small town social politics. Though she's highly intelligent, she misses some fundamental social cues along the way, and creates a stir by her reactions to an event which could have been handled differently, and vey likely bypass the horrific fate she eventually found herself in.
There comes a moment, when she actually prevents a deadly confrontation among some other men, and they seem to respect that for a moment . . . But then. It's an interesting case study of different psyches pushed together in a highly awkward situation, and catalyzed by one particularly psychopathic loser in the bunch who manages to drastically magnify the fate that awaits the professor.
But that's not the end . . . Far from it, but is far as this description goes, no spoilers here.
There are actually several layers of backstory, and conflicting threads woven into this tapestry, far too elaborate to fit in here, but does make this much more of an experience than just the minimal description offered here.
I very rarely offer a 9 point rating, but this film is unique in its own ways, and yes, I could watch Thandiwe in just about anything, and that would be worth a few stars just for that.