I don't know anything about the background of this movie, and went into it without any knowledge of what it would be about. Usually, I don't do this. Sometimes I follow the filmography of an actor, a director, or work through a list of movies dealing with similar issues. It’s hard to find a companion piece for “Speak” though, that would make discussing it easier. For once, it certainly is the kind of movie you shouldn’t know too much about before watching it.
At the end of “Mysterious Skin”, when Neal finally tells Brian what happened in their childhood, the story itself does not promise redemption. They are damaged characters, one from knowing, the other from having forgotten, and the story itself isn’t going to heal them. “Speak” is about the period “Mysterious Skin” leaves out, right after the traumatic event happened. We only get a glimpse of Kristen Stewart’s character before the rape, from her own disjointed memories, but it’s enough to clearly show how much she has changed over a short period of time.
The psychological effect is that everything Melinda used to take for granted before now becomes impossible. Her perspective of her surroundings shifts; her view on her former friends who have now deserted her because she called the police at the party (but was unable to communicate what happened), the impossible dynamics in her school, especially the bullies and the teachers who fail at their profession miserably, the shallowness of a new-found friend who is new at the school and knows nothing about her past as a popular girl. While her sensitivity to ignorance, brutality and superficiality increases, she also notices what she might not, before: a boy in school (Michael Angarano) who is politically active and challenges a racist teacher; an art teacher (Steve Zahn) who inspires her to paint a tree and provides a language for what she is going through.
The idea of “expression” and “communication” is the core of the movie. Apart from the damaging effect being raped itself has, the rapist also took away Melinda’s language to express herself and to fight back. Nobody in her vicinity recognizes what she is going through (the symptoms match what most teenage girls go through), and she can’t talk about it, but at the same time, her memories of the event return to her in flashes and the rapist is one of the students in her school who is now dating her former best friend – and she starts to worry that he might do what he did to her to someone she cares about, because she can’t bring herself to talk about it.
The moment when she finally does fight back and win, overcoming the man who raped her on her own, gives her the courage to finally talk about what happened.
At the end of “Mysterious Skin”, when Neal finally tells Brian what happened in their childhood, the story itself does not promise redemption. They are damaged characters, one from knowing, the other from having forgotten, and the story itself isn’t going to heal them. “Speak” is about the period “Mysterious Skin” leaves out, right after the traumatic event happened. We only get a glimpse of Kristen Stewart’s character before the rape, from her own disjointed memories, but it’s enough to clearly show how much she has changed over a short period of time.
The psychological effect is that everything Melinda used to take for granted before now becomes impossible. Her perspective of her surroundings shifts; her view on her former friends who have now deserted her because she called the police at the party (but was unable to communicate what happened), the impossible dynamics in her school, especially the bullies and the teachers who fail at their profession miserably, the shallowness of a new-found friend who is new at the school and knows nothing about her past as a popular girl. While her sensitivity to ignorance, brutality and superficiality increases, she also notices what she might not, before: a boy in school (Michael Angarano) who is politically active and challenges a racist teacher; an art teacher (Steve Zahn) who inspires her to paint a tree and provides a language for what she is going through.
The idea of “expression” and “communication” is the core of the movie. Apart from the damaging effect being raped itself has, the rapist also took away Melinda’s language to express herself and to fight back. Nobody in her vicinity recognizes what she is going through (the symptoms match what most teenage girls go through), and she can’t talk about it, but at the same time, her memories of the event return to her in flashes and the rapist is one of the students in her school who is now dating her former best friend – and she starts to worry that he might do what he did to her to someone she cares about, because she can’t bring herself to talk about it.
The moment when she finally does fight back and win, overcoming the man who raped her on her own, gives her the courage to finally talk about what happened.
2004, directed by Jessica Sharzer, featuring Kristen Stewart, Michael Angarano, Robert John Burke, Hallee Hirsh, Eric Lively, Elizabeth Perkins, Allison Siko, Steve Zahn, D.B. Sweeney.
4 comments:
I don't know if you addressed this in another post, but are you aware that the film Speak is based on the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson?
No, I didn't know (as I did embarrassingly little research before writing the review...). Would you recommend the novel?
Yes I would recommend Speak and all the other young adult novels written by Laure Halse Anderson. Like how most think about any adaption, the book was better. The film is fairly faithful I think.
Thanks for the suggestion! I read the synopses for her other novels and they all sound intriguing, especially Wintergirls.
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