Page 31 - Minister Alex Schwengle
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PEOPLE & ARTS A31
Saturday 26 September
‘The Keeping Room’ shows violence, feminism in Civil War
LINDSEY BAHR In this Monday, Sept. 8, 2014 file photo, Brit Marling, from left, Muna Otaru and Hailee Steinfeld tution of racism falls away
AP Film Writer attend the premiere of “The Keeping Room” on day 5 of the Toronto International Film Festival at and they become family to
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ac- the TIFF Bell Lightbox, in Toronto. each other. They become
tress Brit Marling had never three sisters,” Marling said.
read anything like “The Associated Press “They would defend each
Keeping Room.” It’s not of- other to the ends of the
ten that wartime films focus asked to be impenetrable. and a reverence to the to what happened then.” earth.”
on the women left behind, “There are no karate kicks past. It doesn’t hold back Marling thinks the film is “The Keeping Room” de-
and not the men saving in stilettos. The girls cry, they on distressing language or honest about the dark ori- buted at the 2014 Toronto
them. break down, they get hurt imagery in depicting their gins of America. Film Festival, and it took a
The script by first-time and they’re scared,” she harrowing battle to survive. “It’s an incredibly prescient bit of time before the inde-
screenwriter Julia Hart tells continued. “Being brave The relationships are com- movie in that this country pendently produced fea-
the story of three South- doesn’t mean not be- plicated by the reality of is in some ways hopefully ture found a distributor in
erners — two sisters and a ing scared. It means be- slavery and racism in the waking up to racism,” she Drafthouse Films.
slave — who are forced to ing scared and moving period. said. Beyond the story itself, Mar-
defend their homestead through it anyway. They’re “The stuff that my charac- In this contained story, the ling thinks the film is part of
when a pair of malevolent all very vulnerable in it. They ter goes through and the bond between the three a larger trend in the indus-
Union soldiers descend on fall apart and put them- brutality of some of the lan- women is only strength- try where women are tak-
the property near the end selves back together.” guage was not easy for me ened. ing the initiative to write
of the Civil War. It’s both The story is told with a 21st to get through,” Steinfeld “They reach a really beau- roles for other women and
a thriller and a meditative century savvy, combining acknowledged. “It’s very tiful place trying to survive the movies are actually
reflection on the plight of a revisionist feminist bent tastefully done. It’s very real with each other. The insti- getting made.
women during wartime, She’s done this a few times
and it landed Hart a spot already with “Sound of
on the 2012 Black List — a My Voice” and “Another
prestigious industry round- Earth,” in which she also
up of the year’s best un- acted.
produced screenplays. “I don’t think it’s any ac-
A former schoolteacher, cident that stories have
Hart was inspired when mostly been about white
visiting friends in the South heterosexual men because
and heard a story about they have been the ones
two Civil War-era skeletons who’ve had the position
that were buried in their and power and influence
yard. She worked back- to tell stories. You can’t be-
ward to craft a story about grudge any of that. Now
how those bodies got women are finding a room
there. of their own and writing
“I read it twice in one sit- their own scripts and mak-
ting,” said Marling in a ing their own movies” said
recent interview. “Then I Marling.
went chasing after it.” She added that successful
Under Daniel Barber’s films with big female casts
(“Harry Brown”) direction, like “Pitch Perfect” and
Marling would take on the “Bridesmaids” show that
role of Augusta, the de “men and women are in-
facto head of the house- terested in watching stories
hold, with Hailee Steinfeld about women. I think we’re
playing her younger sis- in a really exciting time.”q
ter Louise and newcomer
Muna Otaru as their slave Popular returning TV shows match Google interest
Mad.
At the beginning of the NEW YORK (AP) — The an- so far this week have been The second most searched- the sensation created by
film, now playing in limited CBS’ “NCIS” and “The Big for premiere date on last winter’s debut of the
release and expanding na- ticipation among televi- Bang Theory,” both with Google was for CBS’ “Crim- music industry soap would
tionwide throughout Octo- 18.2 million viewers, Nielsen inal Minds,” which hasn’t continue.
ber, the girls are struggling sion viewers about new fall said. debuted yet, This week’s viewership was
to just keep themselves Both shows were also fea- with “The Big Bang Theory” second only to the season
fed as supplies on the farm shows was foreshadowed tured among the top 10 being third, the company finale last spring, which had
dwindle. Then Augusta un- questions Google received said. 17.6 million viewers.
wittingly incites ire in two by Google. on premieres, the com- NBC’s “Chicago Fire” has The show is also expected
rogue Union soldiers (Sam pany said. Google didn’t also attracted Google at- to gain when time-delayed
Worthington, Kyle Soller) The online information release numbers on how tention, along with CBS’ viewing is factored in.
she encounters who follow many people made these “Madam Secretary” and Google said that over the
her home intent on raping, company said Friday the searches, but the compa- ABC’s “Scandal,” ‘’Grey’s past month, the television
pillaging and killing. ny said there are roughly 3 Anatomy” and “Nashville.” programs that were most
“(The women) have to de- most-searched query billion Google searches on The “Empire” ratings were searched-for for any rea-
fend themselves and do it various topics made world- closely watched by the in- son were ABC’s “Dancing
in a way that’s plausible,” about fall premieres over wide each day. dustry in general to see if With the Stars,” q
said Marling, who’s also
a writer, director and pro- the past week was about
ducer. “Nobody is being
when Fox’s “Empire” would
return.
The new season debuted
to 16.2 million viewers on
Wednesday night, the
Nielsen company said.
The two top returning shows
