A Vigilante
SXSW – Paramount Theatre, March 10, 2018
Article by Stacey Lovett
Olivia Wilde delivers a harrowing performance in Sarah Dagger-Nixon’s A Vigilante wherein the light of surviving her own abuser takes matters into her own hands to aid others in the same situations.
The storyline is rather simplistic – her character, Sadie, has endured a violent emotionally crippling past and in her attempts to cope with it in the present, employs a system bringing justice to others being abused, in turn ultimately forced to face and end that former pain.
The power of this film lies more so in what is not said. As many abused endure this horror in silence, much of the piece is relayed through the emotions of the characters and also serves as its own moment of silence for these victims as well. There is an increase in volume where Sadie finds a voice as an avenger but muted in times where the victims, including herself, are in moments of introspection or internalizing their traumas as they, as a result, never truly live a life without pain. The muting of the film’s color scheme mirrors this strong emotion as well lending to the feel of isolation and melancholy that Sadie and her fellow survivors endure. The greyness and gloom of the snowy upstate New York setting echo the cold seclusion left in the throes of abuse. This film is gripping in the fact that it goes beyond an invitation for the audience to participate in the emotions, rather it demands it; there is no escaping compassion and understanding with these characters and Wilde’s character is the one mainly responsible for transporting this anguish. She opens herself up to the core of her vulnerability into a truly notable cathartic role as she guides the audience through her transformative growth developing into a heroine of her calling – moving from concealing her own wounds to disguising her identity in her quest to liberate others in the same conditions. To truly liberate herself she has to face her past in the literal sense and it becomes her greatest battle yet; with only so much physical preparation for this fight, Sadie had to reach into the depths of her mental groundwork to overcome the demons that both haunt and drive her.
The play between strength and the perception of weakness is unbalanced in the portrayal of these victims much to the benefit of depicting a valid, humanistic view on what the body can endure mentally and physically. Wilde’s performance especially and the writer/director Dagger-Nixon’s raw portrayal of exploitation in her feature debut were noteworthy contributions to both the film world and a greater voice for many victims who have been stripped of theirs.
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