Good morning, House of Madness criminals:
I know hate is a strong word, but is there something you actually hate to your core? I hate spiders; so much so that if I were to walk past one on the way to my car and it wasn't in my direct line of travel, I'd make the extra effort and stomp that eight-legged monstrosity into an unrecognizable pile of goo, before it stopped its little charade of being harmless while it secretly conspired to eat someone's face off as they sleep. My wife hates being tickled so much, that she keeps a frying pan under her side of the bed to ward off any childish advances, and has had her feet bronzed in an effort of rendering my toe tickles useless. My buddy hates Helen Hunt SO much, that if they ever decide to make "Twister 2" (no, I'm not going to look it up to see if it's really a thing), he'd tie himself to a tree in front of the director's house, and would refuse to leave until the movie project was canceled, or the Minnesota Vikings win the Superbowl. That's dedication to hatred, folks. Now we come to first-time feature film director Gia Elliot, whose absolute hatred for men is so rampant, that she didn't even put one in "Take Back the Night", and instead leaves the audience to recognize man's trail of destruction everywhere he goes through the eyes of society's castaways the world refers to as women.
I'm certainly not arguing or trivializing the plight that women have to go through each and every day, as living in a society where women are expected to use the 'buddy system' if walking at night, carrying mace while simply taking the dog for a stroll in a nice neighbourhood, or never glancing away from their drink on the bar in fear of some sociopath poisoning it with a roofie is insanely backwards. Let me be clear, I think it's ridiculous we live in a world where the responsibility of safety is placed on the victim, rather than educating and drilling into our minds that it's not OK to do these immoral acts to anyone, and focus the outrage and due diligence on potential future perpetrators, instead of potential future victims. That said, the level of disdain towards men in this film is easily a 20/10, which I would certainly take no issue with in a case by case basis, but the over-the-top antipathy for men as a species overrides all the societal comparisons the film tries to achieve, and we're left trying to resonate with a jaded rant rather than a healthy narrative.
Every passing minute I felt like yelling "I'M SORRY I'M A MAN, OK!?", but the farther the film delved into its heroine's consternation, the more arrogant and bold it became with a story obviously derived from deep rooted personal hatred. I hate men that do evil things too, whether they be rapists, murderers, animal abusers or any such deplorable people, but if you're simply going to preach hate and nothing more, let someone else teach the class; you're not helping the cause.
Madness Meter: 3.3/10
NB
