jgcorrea

The film is included among the 200 best films ever made. But, sorry, having a powerful, undeniable message like "slavery is the greatest evil" does not by itself make a film great. Steve McQueen directed "Shame," which I could only endure for about 15 minutes. Like this movie, it was over the top. In that movie, it was sex that Mr. McQueen expected to fill seats in theaters. I'd be the last person to say that the worst kinds of torture and abuse were not heaped on black slaves. Indeed they were. So, McQueen fills his movie with non-stop whippings, lynchings and other abuse. His dismal Terance Mallick-like style "extremely lengthy lingering shots equal depth" wouldn't really matter (it's only a film, right?) except that the effect is nonsensical, hardly reflecting history & society. Were the northern states of the US an idyllic utopia for black people? You tell me.

I am afraid, this particular movie has been utterly forgotten by Yours Truly. We forget movies for a variety of reasons, including of course limitations in how our brains store and retrieve information, time passage and distractions. In the case of mediocre films, forgetting can actually be a beneficial process, helping us focus on what's really important as far as the só called Seventh Art is concerned. There are also other factors: (1) Age: Some age-related memory decline is quite normal. (2) Stress and Sleep can also affect memory and recall. (3) Certain medications can have side effects that impact memory.

The film really should have been full of suspense. The past events are slowly revealed over the course of the story and at each turn a potential culprit comes to light. What did the creepy school caretaker (a pedophile) have to do with the disappearance of Isabel? Which of the many boys who lusted after Isabel played a role in her demise? Robin, Sabine's much-loved older brother? Bart, her own teenage boyfriend who kept their relationship a secret? Or perhaps Olaf, Sabine's current boyfriend who is reluctant to talk of his own link to Isabel? Although she now lives in Amsterdam Sabine keeps returning to the small town where she grew up in an effort to help the memories that she has locked away to resurface, so there is a constant juxtaposition between the present and the past which should help to flesh the story out. But I found myself wondering at several loose ends left at the end, including what might have become of all the other missing girls that Sabine uncovers in her search for the truth surrounding Isabel's disappearance. The Reunion has a flashback structure that gives great potential for some dramatic tension, but the director simply doesn't know how to use it to any effect. The narrative becomes inert and aimless. There are many cartboard characters, such as Renee, the nasty lady boss and the autistic colleague with his laptop, who have no other role in the story than just being... (i) a nasty boss and (ii) an autistic colleague...