Let me tell you what I love: choc coated almonds, a long jog which feels easy, the joy of finding the right gift and most significantly for this post: Sandra Bullock movies.
I know what you’re thinking. My wife thinks the same: really? Well yea – while many would suggest ‘Miss Congeniality’ and ‘Miss Congeniality 2’ were not highbrow affairs, I actually loved them and have watched them many times over and it has started my long-term addiction with this actress.
As luck should have it, I was delighted to see a new Bullock film featured on Netflix recently. It was called ‘The Unforgiveable’ and demands of the audience: “No one walks free of their past”
Key Details: Director: Nora Fingscheidt Stars: Sandra Bullock, Filmed: Canada Release: December 2021, Netflix
Let me get into it:
The film immediately creates a distance between Bullock’s character, Ruth, and the audience. The skies are dreary, the low key lighting is a bit distracting and the appearance of the character is dishevelled. Ruth’s moment to leave prison is not showered in sun light. Her conversation with her parole officer is frank, the boarding house she moves into is sparse and littered with dangerous situations and snarling characters. Her workplace, gutting fish, does nothing to endear her to the audience.
Yet – I found myself starting to care for this poor woman. Flashbacks strip back her outer layers, and we start to develop empathy through this understanding. As a young lady she was forced to raise her sister after the death of her mother, and with the death of her father, the bank is taking back her home (which itself, was in a state of disrepair). The flashbacks take us into her desperate moments, where she warns the local police officer: “If anyone comes into my house, I’ll shoot ‘em” – and she does, leading to her imprisonment.
It begs the question – does she deserve redemption and to be re-united with her sister, who she played the mother role for? The police chief’s son doesn’t believe so; as young boys, they lost their father – their lives were torn apart. The family who adopted the younger sister have given her life and opportunity and having supported their new daughter through trauma counselling over the years, feel a renewed connection would be problematic for their girl.
As this question plays out, the director keeps the mood of the film hostile, the only reprieves are when we get snapshots of Ruth’s sister, and the new life she had created for her. This made it a hard film to watch, and it completely subverted my expectations of what a Sandra Bullock film should look like. I wanted bright lights and, at the very least, clean looking characters in clean costumes. The question of whether she would re-unite with her sister, or whether she would act murderously towards others in the text looms throughout this film and it did enough to keep me watching to find out how it ended. But did I love it? No. Would I watch it again? No. Would I recommend it? No. I wanted something mindless and light, and I didn’t want to get into ethical debates around forgiveness and redemptive practices. I didn’t want to engage with themes of justice, or human dignity or the inequalities of class. I think I would have been better watching Miss Congeniality all over again.
#cinetv #cine
