Year of release- 2016
Director- Larry Kent
Stars- Jewel Staite, Sarah Smyth, Missy Cross, Shane Twerdun
The film
follows Angela, a former nurse at a Planned Parenthood clinic and a councillor,
who now offers help to women from her home after the local government forced
the clinic to shut down. Believing that Angela is coercing women to get
abortions, the Baarker family—a small group of dangerous and fanatical
right-wing Christians - lead by the menacing figure of preacher Jeremiah, seek
vengeance. They claim that God has ordered them to cleanse the land, and the
sin that Angela represents is first upon their list.
Angela
decides to stand her ground against the church along with her police officer boyfriend. When Jeremiah
receives supposed word that a young girl has had an abortion after consulting
with Angela, the Baarkers start to hunt the child down. Angela takes her in and
vows to protect her. But as the tension between the two sides mounts, the
Baakers' zeal and crazed fanaticism turns murderous and the rule of law decays
into a brutish mob mentality, leading to a horrifying and utterly brutal series
of events.
This film
despite having a moderate budget, manages to create a bleak, hopeless and
downright terrifying atmosphere right from the opening scene which hits the
viewer like a brick to the teeth. She Who
Must Burn excels at utilising a good script with surprisingly good acting
to make the scenes of tension (of which there are many) all the more nerve
racking by making us actually care about the characters on screen, something most
low budget films simply fail to do.
The film
also has great success in its visual aesthetics and practical visual effects. The
whole film has a washed out look that adds a great deal of grim atmosphere to
the entire film. The film is wonderfully shot, and its style of cinematography in
many parts reminded me of something we might see in Red Hill, Dead Mans Shoes
or possibly a Field In England mainly
bleak, drab and utterly miserable. This brings me on to the violence in the
film, and the presentation of that violence. This film does not flinch away
from some truly harsh and brutal scenes. Including the murder of a child, rape,
domestic abuse and a very graphic scene of a stillbirth. The film presents
these without showmanship and without sensationalising them. There are numerus
scenes of brutal, extreme human behaviour in this film that are presented to
the audience with such force and artistic vigour that they cannot help but
shock or disturb at times.
My only
complaint about She Who Must Burn is
its ending. I found the way the film concluded to be perhaps a little ham
fisted, a little rushed and even possibly the only lazy element of the film. Other
than this however, this really is a superb film. It is stripped down, harsh,
brutal and unflinching in its presentation of hatful ignorance and madness. I
would highly recommend She Who Must Burn
and I am going to happily give it a 7.5/10.