🎬TV series "The Handmaid's Tale" - a Dystopia for fans to hit a nerve - REVIEW without spoilers

Do you like utopian and dystopian fiction the way I like them? How many times I have read Zamyatin and Orwell not to count. I try to read all more or less well-known books from the genre of social science fiction, dystopias / utopias. First of all, I'm interested in new subjects, interesting world and possibilities for the development of events. After all, what is invented by the authors in their fantasies may be embodied in reality in the future .

For example, some of the things described by Orwell in the book "1984" have already come true: total surveillance, the imposition of a universal enemy (the Russian threat to the whole world or terrorism for the Russian people, under the guise of which they are currently blocking the Internet), etc.

In 1985, Margaret Atwood's novel The Story of a Maid was published, which brought her the Booker Prize nomination. In 1989, the German director Volker Schlöndorf presented the adaptation of the novel. And finally in 2017 the HULU channel presented its version of the book in the form of a TV series.

There are only 10 episodes in the first season with episodes lasting about an hour. The series is extended for the second season, which will be shown in 2018. Image source

PLOT

USA. Across the world, there has been a sharp decline in the birth rate. Every child born causes a storm of emotions and the desire of other women to steal it. A group of people understand that it is necessary to radically change the state system and through a coup in the US they establish a pseudo-religious theocracy. Scientists, homosexuals were shot or sent to a certain colony for work.

Only the families of officers are recognized as worthy of reproduction, in a very specific way. It is believed that the wives of officers are infertile, and therefore the Servant is attached to each family. She does not have a name and she takes the name of an officer.

Before sending handmaids to families, they are trained in special centers, where they are especially obstinate with the help of electric shock and other tortures explain their true purpose.

Such a strange tradition of the new community is based on a quote from the Bible:

30-1-3 Genesis When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”

Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?”

Then she said, “Here is Bilhah, my servant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I too can build a family through her.”

RESUME

In the title role - actress Elizabeth Moss, known by her roles in the series Mad Men and the Top of the Lake. Image source

It's nice that the main role was taken not typical for Hollywood movies beauty. Elizabeth Moss perfectly in her role. She needs always to be quiet, emotionless shade of his officer. We can guess her feelings only on the easy facial expressions. She plays so beautifully and naturally that during the episodes, you forget that this is just TV series.

It is not that kind of TV series you can watch next episode after an episode. It is necessary to take breaks to calm the nerves from what is happening on the screen. The plot depresses, while the work of the director and the operator is amazing. The combination of beautiful pictures, dialogues, voiced thoughts of Offred and an excellent soundtrack (the songs are always right there) leads to the end of the episode almost to nirvana. Only in a somewhat negative sense.

The most terrible thing is that much of what is shown is happening in the our world right now. Female circumcision, lack of rights in women, slavery. And it makes you sad.

All the main characters are so deep and contradictory that filmmakers did not manage to reveal them in 10 episodes. Each time they appear in a new vein and from an unexpected side. You do not understand who is good and who is bad. Sometimes it seems that there are some psychopaths around. But only such people can create terrible things with their country?

We feel special resonance from the present / past picture. We are shown what was the life of the protagonists before the onset of the dictatorship and how quickly their world turned over.

If you are a fan of TV series or have not yet seen "The Handmaid's Tale", then the series is mandatory for viewing. This is an oppressive, macabre story about the possible development of the future. The plot is so true that it causes disgust. Almost any person can be broken. From the "normal world" to the onset of religious dictatorship in the United States was only 2 years and people quickly obeyed the new order. This is a new better world for Americans, but the best does not mean good.

RATINGS

IMDb 8,7/10 Rotten Tomatoes 8,9/10

CAST

Elisabeth Moss as June Osborne/Offred, a Handmaid

Joseph Fiennes as Commander Fred Waterford

Yvonne Strahovski as Serena Joy Waterford, Fred's wife

Alexis Bledel as Emily/Ofglen