Thoughts on Thelma and Louise?
http://feelthefilms.wordpress.com/2013/06/25/thelma-and-louise-1991/
Friendship is something wonderful. We can fill the emptiness of our hearts with people, without it being as complicated as a romantic partner or be as distant as an acquaintance. Female friendships have been glamorized and broadcasted in media for quite some time now, such of those of Sex and the City movies, but one of the strongest movie friendships began in the celebrated chick-flick that takes a strong stance on feminism and male lack of respect for gender equality. This movie is of course, Thelma and Louise.
Now let me get this straight, Thelma and Louise may be categorized as drama by the Hollywood Foreign Press and may be advertised as a female thriller-action movie, but no other film has made me laugh so frequent and so urgently since A Fish Called Wanda. I was laughing out loud at the simplest line deliveries that we've probably heard a million times before in movies, but Thelma and Louise puts its own stamp on such scripted lines or situational scenes and makes them shimmer a little brighter than the rest.
Which brings me to Thelma and Louise's biggest asset: the screenplay by Callie Khouri. It exploits strong females and their voice in the world. Khouri writes two stereotypical women characters: a housewife and a waitress, then transforms them in a way that they can finally express themselves, which they probably have never done in their entire lives. Thelma and Louise is about the repression of women by men and the male dwindling of their importance to either sex or property. The film proves there's more to women than what they are allowed to expose by their husbands or society's rules. But don't get me wrong, it's a fun, fun, movie, not a boring lecture on feministic views.
The two actresses who lead the picture with courage, Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, excel, taking this picture to new heights in female-driven movies. Sarandon is a force to be reckoned with as Louise. Though many have said she's too old for the part, Sarandon puts her soul into the role making her as grounded as she becomes wild. Davis, though isn't as impressive as Sarandon, commits to Thelma thoroughly.
Thelma and Louise is an exciting, hilarious, and interesting experience to take with these two characters. The film's biggest fault is that it lags in the middle, when the two characters split up with two different men. As the men control the picture for those fifteen minutes, the movie almost dries up and shrivels like wet paper. Thankfully, the section ends, the girls are reunited, and their bond becomes even deeper as their crime world deepens.
Thelma and Louise aren't bad people, but women pushed to the point which they end up at the film's closing. When men demean women's intelligence and significance to the world, Thelma and Louise is an exaggerated statement of may happen. Ridley Scott, directs the picture with great accessibility for the audience to join in and rejoice in these two strong female characters.
Rating: 9/10
Grade: A
When it comes to torture, I trust the lady who spent three years married to James Cameron.