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There's a merit on doing all female leads drama thriller set on volatile era of Civil War, especially when there's social prejudice involved. However, aside from some admittedly fine performance, the movie feels clunky and slow. It doesn't have the intricacy or characterization beyond the basic formula of "there are bad men coming", and even that takes the film about half its runtime to get the pace going.

This is the story of three women, one of whom is colored, as they defend their home from outsiders. Each woman might not be easily relatable at first, but the acting as well as decent investment time to them manage to deliver a few heavy thought provoking and intimate scenes. Brit Marling as the oldest one keeps a strong presence even though her character may be lacking in term of actual strength.

Muna Otaru as Mad, the colored housekeeper or technical maid, has a unique personality as the caretaker of the girls and also her own woman. As for the antagonist Sam Worthington makes do, he's decent but his motivation doesn't have the same focus as the girls', which means less connection to the character as he basically stumbles on the predicament he himself creates. The cinematography works by keeping an intentionally bleak and less stylish version of Wild West.

This is a deliberate pace for drama, not action or thriller. It does feel terribly slow at times, not in a good Tarantino build up style. Furthermore, there's not much cat-and-mouse cerebral standoff, which feels like a missed opportunity, especially when it could've used the setting as intense backdrop. Panic Room with Jodie Foster had trade of wit between protagonist and antagonist that created depth and utilized its premise, while here it's more of random gunslinging action.

The Keeping Room has a couple of good performances, especially geared towards heavy themes such as race prejudice and violence towards women. However, instead of putting more focus on home invasion to elevate the drama, its slow pace removes any thrill to what could've been a powerful commentary of an era and its lingering issues.

I liked this movie and i am surprised that some feel differently towards it. It was very cool to see the war coming from a woman's perspective. It also showed the horrors that women faced trying to defend their homes.

It showed how at the end of the civil war how violent and it also showed that women were not respected at this point in history. We noticed that it showed not only the woman's perspective but also the man's.

Many could say they viewed the movie as controversial but i viewed it as showing how strong women were in this time period and to show the destruction the civil war caused.

I personally recommend this movie for learning purposes as well to get an insight on the different perspectives of the civil war.

I like this movie and i'm surprised some feel differently towards it. It was cool to see the war coming from a woman's perspective and show the horrors of the woman trying to defend their home and themselves.

It showed how at the end of the Civil War that it was violent and it also showed women didn't have much respect. We noticed that it showed not only the woman's perspective but the man's as well.

Many could say they view this movie differently but I viewed it as showing how strong women were in this time period and to show the destruction the Civil War caused.

I personally recommend this movie for learning purposes as well as to get an insight on the different perspectives of the Civil War.

During the Carolinas Campaign near the bitter end of the Civil War in spring, 1865, two sisters & a former slave (Brit Marling, Hailee Steinfeld & Muna Otaru) have been waiting out the war at their rural homestead. A couple of Yankee cutthroats enter the picture and they have to use their wits to survive.

A slowburn Western that takes place in the East, "The Keeping Room" (2014) has sparse settings, but a competent cast, proficient filmmaking and a realistic, grim tone. Similar movies include "Pharaoh's Army" (1995) and "Echoes of War" (2015). "War Flowers" (2012) is another one but, unlike that flick, "The Keeping Room" features top-of-the-line filmmaking for a modest-budget picture.

The film runs 1 hour, 35 minutes, and was shot in Poienari, Arges County, Romania.

GRADE: B+

A thinly plotted , mainly slow but often tense Civil War piece with three fine lead performances and a good rather different one from Sam Worthington. An interesting take on what happens when law breaks down in a soon to be defeated land.