The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open

Being a slow burn, this film is best for a (possibly mature) Canadian or Indie film fan and features superb acting. Kudos all around.

I saw "The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open" a day after seeing "1917." The films share the stylistic trait of being filmed (mostly) to look like one continuous shot. "1917," a movie about a long-ago conflict populated by white men and full of canned platitudes is being heaped with praise and is all over the awards buzz circuit. "The Body Remembers.....", which feels urgent and of the moment, has exactly 4 reviews on IMDb as I write this review, which will be the fifth once I click "Submit."

This is what people are talking about when they vent frustration that movies are so dominated by white male stories. I am a white male, and I don't boycott movies based on them being about white males. "Joker," "Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood," and "Uncut Gems" were among my favorite movies of 2019. But I do also crave stories about and by other demographics, and I understand the resentment when things like "1917" and "Ford v Ferrari," bro films if ever there were any, dominate the cultural conversation while films like this one are barely seen by anyone.

"The Body Remembers..." is a quietly magnificent and very moving film about....well, about lots of things actually. About domestic abuse, first and foremost. But also about class difference, about being a minority, about how some minorities are perceived to be more "minority" than others, even by those in their same demographic. It's about privilege and the blitheness that comes with it, even in well-intentioned people. It's about one person not being able to understand the decisions made by another when the "right" decision seems so obvious. It's a film that communicates as much, maybe more, during its long silent moments as it does when characters are talking. It's my favorite kind of movie, as it doesn't ask its audience to side with anyone or even like anyone. It just asks us to spend some time with them and see what kind of empathy we might have for them. It does what I turn to fictional narratives for...it puts me in the shoes of someone different from me and lets me experience what the world looks like from their perspective, which often looks quite different from the world as I experience it.

Of course I'm not naive enough to think a film this small or off the beaten path would ever be considered for serious awards attention, but I was more moved, energized, and excited by this film than all but a couple of the movies that will be vying for Oscars in a few weeks.

Grade: A+

First of all I loved the storyline, and the attention to detail - particularly within the dialogue. It's slow realism, so won't appeal to the mainstream audience (maybe). So glad I've seen this. Very surprising for Netflix indeed.

This is cinema-verite of the perils of a native woman trying to adjust to living in a large city - in this case Vancouver. The strength of this film is that there is no glamorization. Rosa is both victim and predator. And Aila as the Good Samaritan is more a victim.

Also the film is complex, no easy solutions are offered.

The film is slow-paced with no histrionics.

If you are a fan of action films then better to skip this.

One of the most incredibly close, really personal films I have ever seen. Sensory and emotional realism in every frame.