Malcolm Talks Movies
UNA
Directed by: Benedict Andrew
*WARNING: This weeks installment revolves around the film Una, which includes graphic and traumatic descriptions and depictions of childhood sexual abuse. If you are a survivor of sexual abuse I would strongly urge you to do some research on this film before checking it out.
"I was lucky enough to catch Una during its limited run in theaters last year and it immediately ranked as one of my favorite films released in 2017. I am ecstatic to see that it is now available for viewing on Netflix, and available to a wider audience. This film is a very important one, and its ruminations on survivors of sexual abuse and the trauma they carry with them is profound and heartbreaking.
Una follows the films titular character, played by Rooney Mara, as she attempts to dissect and move on from a deeply passionate sexual relationship with her middle aged next door neighbor Ray (played by Ben Mendehlson) ten years earlier when Una was only 13.
Una’s narrative is complex, but the majority of the film follows Una through a single day, where she has tracked down Ray. He has been released from prison for a number of years, and has changed him name. He now works as a manager in a factory, and has been given a second chance at life. The majority of the film is simply their conversation, as Una struggles to unpack and understand what happened all those years ago, and Ray attempts to defend his deserving a second chance at a normal life.
The parallels between this film and another one of my all time favorite films Doubt (2008) are, frankly, a bit bizarre. First and foremost, both are adapted from plays primarily driven by a conversation between two characters. Both films were also written and directed by the key creatives behind the stage plays themselves. Furthermore, both films feature incredibly talented actors in their prime. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep in Doubt, and Rooney Mara and Ben Mendehlson in Una.
All these odd parallels aside, the similarity that marks both films as incredibly powerful stories, is that they both deal with the subject of sexual abuse with a level of nuance and complexity that is rarely offered in the cinematic medium.
It seems many filmmakers are afraid to tackle the subject of sexual abuse from this morally objective standpoint. Likely because it makes us as viewers (and even more likely them as creatives) deeply uncomfortable. We don’t want to see abuse as a state of grey. It’s far more comfortable to lock it into a black and white space, where there is no room for questions, no room to grapple with doubt, or confusion. Unfortunately, the moralistic black and white we all find comfort in relegating these uneasy topics too is not a privilege the survivors, or others affected by sexual abuse are capable of doing. This is where Una shines through as an absolute tour de force of filmmaking. It adamantly refuses to ever once give you an easy answer.
I will be the first to say this film is not for everyone. If you don’t like films that make you uncomfortable or upset, then do not watch this movie. Naturally, this rings true due to the terse subject matter of sexual abuse, but also because simply put, Una flourishes in the shadowy ambiguity that rarely populates American cinema, but continuously punctuates our daily lives.
In forcing the audience to grapple with uneasy answers about survivors, abusers, and redemption, it forces you to feel the same sense of loss and confusion that Una as a character does. At its very core, I think this is the strongest thing film as a medium can do. Giving the viewer an opportunity to truly feel what the protagonist is feeling through the use of cinematic techniques. In this regard, Una is nothing short of a masterwork."
Una is available to stream now on NETFLIX