Once again, I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t sleep. I know it well, and since there is no point in tossing and turning in bed, I got up. Anyway, I’m aware that there are things I need to write about, and this is probably what prevents me from falling asleep again.
First of all, who is this journal written for? This is important because it determines the style and content of all its entries. If the answer is the readers of my blog, where I publish fragments of it, then yesterday’s entry is fully justified. But I don’t think that is the case. I was supposed to be the main focus—my thoughts, ideas, feelings, and dilemmas—all written with myself as the main audience in mind. After all, that is what a journal is all about, isn’t it? With all due respect to the external readers, they are just complementary characters that blend into the background.
And that brings me back to Karen Cinorre’s film. I’ve already seen it, so there is no problem analysing it with all the details I know. Besides, my blog readers could always find the whole plot on the dedicated Wikipedia page.
So, as I see it, apart from the protagonist, the main characters of the film are personifications of the heroine’s feelings after the sexual assault on her: fear, withdrawal, and anger/hatred, with the last one becoming the main driver of the new reality she has fallen into. The island on which the film takes place symbolises her mind, which becomes both a refuge and a prison, and the camps of women all over the island are mental connections with the women victims of sexual abuse all over the world—she hears their voices in many languages brought by the wind and the sound of sea waves.
What brought her to this place were suicidal thoughts, and while on the island, she has to decide whether she will give in to these thoughts or rather find something that will allow her to continue living after what she went through, as well as what feelings will guide her through this rebuilt life. The fact that the director, being a woman, still gave the protagonist’s male friend the privilege of being the beacon that brought the main character back to life shows that men as a gender are not perceived as evil incarnates and that friendship, love, and the most important—life alongside them—are still possible even after such a horrible experience.
This film is cathartic, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to see it. I can’t wait for Karen Cinorre’s next work because she has a very distinctive voice that will not leave you indifferent.
hidden pilcrow 