MovieChat Forums > Things Behind the Sun (2001) Discussion > interesting movie, uses the dark side to...

interesting movie, uses the dark side to make a point.

posted 21 years ago by bruce-129
8 replies | jump to latest

Some of you have mentioned that the acting is not so great, or the
camera work was lacking or somesuch. That makes no difference to
me, this movie is a work or genius ... but a kind of produced,
calculated yet close to the heart genius that makes me think I am
making too much of it, or that it might only seem this way to me,
and here's why ...

The whole topic, the whole thesis of the movie, is that the woman
is totally obsessed by this rape. She still lives in the same town,
she shows up at the house annually for an unknown reason, and she
writes a song about being gang raped, and sings it for everyone in
the town. Is this believeable? Not in a realistic way for sure ...
and this is what makes the movie haunting and interesting.

I would be interested to hear a discussion or exposition of just
what is happening in this movie, the dynamics and such. One person
here said that the male lead was a terrible actor, and yet I think
he was excellent in catching his lack of "something", integrity
of his slow understanding of what he was lacking in action, but
feeling emotionally.

So, the whole strange resolution of the rape in front of the camera,
the bar patrons, the women who now owns the house, her friends, and
all of us ... is brilliant as a film, and somehow it worked. I'd
just like to know how it was done ... it was like magic.

[–] kt2222 21 years ago

I saw an interview with Alison Anders (who wrote and directed the movie). She was gang raped as a young girl in that house in Florida and much of the movie is from her own experience.
The interview was almost chilling, hearing her describe going back to not just the town but the very house where this horrible thing happened to her. I think what the movie is really about though is that you have to take every experience and make it yours, however that is. Ms. Anders insn't ashamed of what happened to her, and shouldn't be - she had no control over it, and it must have been incredible cathartic to make this movie.

[–] Dicktar 21 years ago

I thought the resolution at the end was by far the weakest part of an already uneven movie. To present the pain of the characters so honestly (at times) and then to end with such a pat, Spielberg-ian, Afterschool Special scene was really pretty revolting. Especially since this film is so clearly autobigraphical, one would expect Anders to be honest with the fact that Sherry is NEVER going to just run out of that house and drive away.

No, wait--Owen's "betrayed by my own body!!" line is the weakest part of the movie (see my earlier post). The stand-up-and-clap finale is a close second.

(If you're wondering why, if I hate this movie so much, I'm bothering to write about it, I didn't really hate it. It gets so much stuff exactly right in ways movies with similar themes haven't (Don Cheadle's character is like none other I've ever seen, as is the film's honesty regarding the comprehensive effect of Sherry's rape on her personality), I think it's really a film worth seeing. And, most importantly, it's a movie whose shortcomings are very interesting.)

[–] bruce-129 20 years ago

Yes, reading the replies to my post, there is something
about this movie, and it is not apparent, it is recursive,
a bit like the allusions to things behind the Sun. there
are things too bright or distracting to think about while
you watch this movie, but when you think about it, it is
a really good movie, for that reason.

I agree, I have never seen very much acting as good as
Don Cheadle's character. You can see the anguish and the
frustration. He is on surface just a black guy trying to
make a play for a pretty white woman, but as the film goes
on he fights for her, and himself, and lays bare the
essense of that character, who in the end is a reall good
man and may get what he worked so hard for.

The radio guy is typical American, so insulated from anything
growing up in the US with no morals and yet so good at acting
like he knows what is going on ... yet you see his process
of finding out ...

I can tell you did not hate this movie by the way, and in
fact I sort of had a similar reaction ... I thought it was
trite at first to have a woman be so free to talk about her
rape, and how she enjoyed it, and she sees her sexuality in
terms of that from then on ... could that be true?

How is it that the director can say something like that that
is so poltically incorrect as to be almost blasphemous?

[–] Dicktar 20 years ago

Sherry never claims to have enjoyed her rape. She is aroused by re-enactments of the situation surrounding her attack, something that might seem strange but is a fairly common phenomenon among rape survivors--it DOES NOT mean the person was excited by the rape itself.

But I agree, for all its faults, TBTS says some things about the impact of sexual violence no other movies have.

www.gatewayarts.net

[–] bruce-129 20 years ago

> Sherry never claims to have enjoyed her rape.

You are correct, I should have not stated that
in those terms, but the distinction is what I am
trying to define I suppose, ... just what they hell
was she trying to prove? That was broached in some
way in this movie, and yet not explained.

One person in one of these posts said that this was
Anders personal experience. I do not know that, did
not see it or read it anywhere, and I thought on the
DVD she said she liked the story.

By the way what are you saying it means to be "aroused
by re-enactments of the situation surrounding her
attack" I supposed what I am getting at is of course it
does not mean Sherry wanted to be raped, or that she enjoyed
it, or supposing for a second she did, that it would be
moral or legal to do that to someone whether or not they
enjoyed it if they did not want to ... but what the hell
does it mean and say about the nature of women ... from
the point of view of the director?

And is this movie just fluff because the director was
smart enough to shine a light in a interesting way on a
controversial subject enough to get viewers and attention
and money for future cinematic efforts at the expense of
confusing the issue even more for rape victims?

[–] Dicktar 20 years ago

Here's a link from a review that mentions the biographical nature of the film. I remember reading an interview with Anders where she elaborated a bit, I'm sure it's still online somewhere if you're curious.

http://www.geraldpeary.com/reviews/stuv/things-behind.html

Given that she was speaking from her own experiences, I don't think she was drawing any conclusions about the psychology of rape victims except for describing her own experience.

As for this: "what the hell does it mean and say about the nature of women" the answer is: Nothing. The desire to re-enact the situations surrounding traumatic events is a fairly common symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder, whatever the stressor and whatever the gender of the victim. It seems to be motivated by the desire to control the events of the initial trauma through the re-enactment, to give the situation less power and a different ending. The theory goes that this is the same reason PTSD patients have flash-back style nightmares, it's a sort of attempt to re-write history.

www.gatewayarts.net

[–] denise1234 10 years ago

Something that is often not discussed when talking childhood sexual abuse is that, given how the body reacts, there can be pleasurable feelings mixed up with the abuse.

It does not mean that someone 'enjoys' the sexual abuse.

Victims have no control over certain autonomic functions that can occur. They may feel a sense of 'shame' about these feelings if they occur, although they totally had no control over it, and often can't bring themselves to talk about that aspect.

Many victims have a hard time reconciling bodily 'pleasure' that they may have felt, no matter how minor, despite being totally out of their control (and some victims don't even know that), and that can then be associated with abuse/trauma, and even reenacted in certain ways in future relationships, especially if it is not dealt with and safely processed, usually with help from credible professionals who work with these issues.

Sexuality is a very complicated set of mechanisms. A child/teen's brain is not fully 'set' and to have that kind of experience imprinted onto their delicate physiques and psyches can wreak havoc on them in all sorts of ways. So many things can be all 'tangled up' and confused.

I see some posts where folks don't think the line 'my body betrayed me' is at all credible.

But actually that one bit of dialogue alludes to this very issue.

And it can happen with either gender.

~~ Never trust the teller, trust the tale ~ ~ D.H. Lawrence

[–] 10 years ago

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