Film Review: Descent

Disclaimer: This movie has an NC-17 rating and you must be at 18 years of age to rent.

Thus began this blogger's personal film odyssey.

The movie DESCENT stars Rosario Dawson (who also help produce)as a shy and socially repressed college student. She goes to a party and meets Jared, a smooth talker who seems very much into her.

When they go out on their first dinner date, everything seems to go smoothly. They are getting along fine, and she is laughing and smiling. He seems funny and harmless. Then they go to his place and he rapes her.

Thus, begins her character's descent (hense the title of the film). She becomes emotionally shut down, begins to drink heavily and experiment with drugs and sex at a seedy night club.

However, it is also in this place and in her descent that she gains character and a greater uninhibited strength. But, the price she pays for this is very high in that she loses her innocence and sense of self.

The rape scenes (yes there are 2 rapes in this film) are hard to watch, but fundamentally and functionally are integral to the film's plot. When the Agressor (JARED) becomes the victim, we see the act of rape for what it is--a tool to exhibit control over someone. It is about power, and the harsh reality of this is that these types of things happen to people almost everyday.

It is also interesting when I think back too my emotions during the film. As disgusting as these acts were I couldn't look away. This was a character I felt empathy for and could understand. She did not deserve what happened to her, but did she have the right to take revenge and control the way she did?

That is left up to the audience as a single tear falls down the girl's cheek in the last scene. We are also left to wonder how low can the human spirit fall before it is irredeemable? This was a good movie and it is not for everyone.

Rosario Dawson is an accomplished actress. She can play almost any character in any situation. From Sin City to Rent to Clerks 2, Rosario has it going on.