“Remember you are not her equal. You are her Handmaid. That is your role in life.” That is one of the most important messages an Aunt gives Kate on her way to her placement. In this future version of the United States, called Gilead, war is rampant and society is ruled by puritanical extremists. Although this country is male-controlled and oppression is dominant, there are really only two male characters that we see throughout the entire movie. In fact, because the men are holding positions of power or fighting in the war, the society has created a hierarchy of women, though they are still being oppressed.
Aunts, dressed in brown robes, teach moral values and enforce the law. On the other hand, Handmaids are dressed in red and have been stripped of all rights they have as human beings. Their only role is to breed babies, as pollution has caused most of the population to be infertile, and buy groceries. In one scene, at the ‘Handmaid training school’ so to speak, we see one Handmaid-to-be put on display in front of the others. The Aunt instructs the Handmaid to tell everyone what happened to her. The Handmaid tells the story of how she was raped by six boys, whom she thought were her friends. The Aunt proceeds to tell the young girl how it was her fault, how she led those boys on, and that she was a whore. This is how the oppression of women thrives in this film, although men are rarely present.
Kate, who loses her husband and daughter at the beginning of the film in an attempt to escape the country, is placed to the military Commander and his Wife, Serena, where her duty is to conceive a child for them. Throughout the film, the Commander does not seem like a bad person at all, but his role in oppression and the background plot forces him into the role of an enemy towards the end of the film. Though her role is to bear a child for the Commander and his Wife, she does not become pregnant after several months. Serena encourages Kate to try conceiving with someone else they trust, choosing Nick the chauffeur. Kate is shocked, proclaiming “But you can get hanged for that!” Shockingly, we see the reality of it at a prosecution, where public hanging occurs. Like long ago, this seemed like a form of entertainment for the crowd, seen as many of the women were cheering in the film.
After Kate starts getting involved with Nick, things move pretty quickly, and Kate’s character really goes from one thing to another. She goes from widow to Handmaid, to secret lover of the family chauffeur, to rebel, to assassin in the matter of an hour and fourty-five minutes. Luckily, after all that happens, she has the resistance to help her escape to the mountains after she murders the Commander.
As a viewer of the film, the plot towards the end really jumped around. The saying “that escalated quickly”, really applies to this. If I barely could keep up with these changes that truly seemed random, the character Kate definitely not. Her character seemed passive throughout, barely showing any true emotion.
This film truly had no substance. It’s concept was good, and from what I read about the book, it had a lot of potential. “The novel’s complexities and ambiguities have encouraged constant rereading and reevaluation,” The Handmaid’s Tail, Critical Insights author claims. Unfortunately, the film turned a challenging book into a film simply about how ridiculous women can be and how to keep them in line.
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