catch-all table

…for things I think about movies that I see. 

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NOTICE: Contains spoilers

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This movie sent me reeling.

Before I really begin:

The main characters are Joseph (Peter Mullan), Hannah (Olivia Colman), and James (Eddie Marsan), and the basic plot line is that Joseph is an angry drunk, Hannah is a God-fearing woman who is repeatedly raped and beaten by her husband, James, who is a two faced ultra jealous liar of a scumbag.

NOTE: There is explicit/extreme sexual violence (i.e. rape), foul language, and animal brutality.

Now.

I did not expect such an intense film. I have decided this past week to live precariously through the lives of characters in independent films on Netflix instant watch, or whatever it’s called, so I clicked on “Tyrannosaur” and watched.

The first few minutes is filled with obvious anger and violence. The main character, Joseph, kicks his dog in a drunken stupor, thereby killing the dog. Immediately I was appalled- who is this man who could kill a dog. I thought he was either the worst man on earth or possibly the saddest.

Turns out both of those predictions are slightly true.

He stumbles into a little Salvation Army type shop and meets a woman who, being filled with the love of God, offers to pray for him. He insults her, but keeps coming back because you can tell in his eyes that she’s the only one he really likes as a person. 

We eventually find out that her name is Hannah, and that she’s from a rich background, and that she drinks heavily because her husband abuses her. She tells us that all she wants are children, but she’s incapable of having them. Joseph makes fun of her for that. So we hate him a little bit more.

Hannah and Joseph slowly become not-quite-friends, but they depend on each other. When Hannah comes in with a black eye, saying that she slipped in the bath, you can tell Joseph doesn’t believe her, but he doesn’t say anything.

You notice after a while that Joseph doesn’t act on violent impulses as much anymore.

Then it gets brutal. James, Hannah’s husband, thinks Hannah is cheating on him, so upon finding her completely drunk outside of a bar, he takes her home and beats her. She eventually fights back, exclaiming that she hates him. You think it’s over, that James will beg for forgiveness again.

Instead he beats her and rapes her.

[I have to take a moment here. When I read the reviews on Netflix, I found one that said something along the lines of “If you can’t stand to watch animal cruelty, don’t watch this movie.” 

Well ok. Let’s put this into perspective.

There are these things that most people have called “priorities,” you know, such as food to eat before junk food or luxuries.

I love dogs just as much as anyone else who’s ever raised a dog, but if somebody was playing a cruel “Would you Rather,” where I had to choose between being brutally raped and watching a dog die, I’m sorry, I’d have to let the dog die. Chances are that the dog would forgive me. 

Maybe it’s just my innate fear of being raped. You know. Because rape is TERRIFYING.

Call me cruel, but anyone who says, “Well there’s a few scenes of animal cruelty and one big, long, gut-wrenching scene of brutal rape… better not watch it because I LOVE DOGS SO MUCH <3<3” needs to reevaluate priorities, like, immediately.

/rant]

In the end, we find out that Hannah actually stabbed her evil husband shortly after raping her, and Hannah is then sent to jail.

The last scene is of Joseph visiting Hannah at said jail, where she has a clean face, longer hair, and sad-but-not-as-sad eyes. They say nothing, but you can tell that she is so much better off there. 

I have never been so shocked by a movie. The whole time, I wished for everything to get better, and although this movie falls along the pessimistic side of thinking, it’s pretty clear that:

1) Don’t you dare mess with karma

2) Things don’t always get better, and the sooner you learn that, the sooner you can cope.

Joseph was an evil man, sure, because of his rages and his disregard for others, but there is a determined force in him that proves he is ultimately good. And Hannah, although technically a murderer, is quite possibly the strongest depiction of a woman I have ever seen. I can only hope that I could face such personal danger the same way she did, with grace and silence, but a resolution that could rival any hell-bent man. 

All in all, five stars, and a must watch, if you have a thick skin

or a really soft skin that needs a reality check.