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carly-southern
Reviews
Blaze (2022)
Creative and Brilliant in Many Ways... except the rape scene
There's many ongoing conversations about rape/violence being depicted in film.
A previous review on this film explains how there's a lot in the film that is explicitly told to you and that's precisely the issue with the rape scene, for me. As a woman this scene made me feel like I wanted to throw up. I almost left the theatre. I think that scene could have been more powerful with less shown. I don't need to see the actual rape taking place to understand what Blaze is seeing. I can only assume the director wanted us to experience the horror through her eyes. But I didn't feel I was seeing it through her eyes - I was seeing it through mine and it was traumatizing. I wish I saw more of Blaze's face in that scene. I also felt immensely uncomfortable of the actors performing this scene. It reminds me of the discomfort of watching the rape scene in Blue Velvet. The sound of Hannah's head hitting the tree was very powerful and you understand what's going to happen next.
However, I didn't walk out of the theatre and I'm glad I stayed. Because there's lots of magic in this film. It reminds me of a Julie Taymour play or some sort of cotton Candy ExistenZ adaption. Very cool and unique in many ways. I loved the dragon - I disagree with the previous review mentioning it lacks facial expression. I felt its de-personalization and focus on texture was so interesting because the character is truly within Blaze so I didn't feel I needed to understand the dragon.
Some scenes could have felt forced or too out of the universe of the show but I didn't care, I enjoyed each texture and every move the imagination is taken through. Sometimes when you sit and watch a film with such unique production design it makes you challenge your own creativity and this one surely did. So thank you to the PD/Director duo.
Also the sound in this film could surely be criticized for being too over the top but I just accepted it as it was and it took me on a journey which I enjoyed.
Overall the rape scene almost made me not want to sit through the rest but I'm glad I did. I think if the rape could have been handled more sensitively I would have given this a 8/10.