There is so much gut wrenching moments and decisions made in this film that left me feeling incredibly sorrowful for so many people of history.
Firstly the main character's tragic rape being set against such a joyful moment. In a nonchalant scene she finds a private space to pee after declaring innocent love for a young man, only to have the night ripped from her. Society's shunning of women unwed with pregnancy puts this young girl in such an awful position. It's heart breaking to watch her stumble her way through the pregnancy and birth, to have the child born too early and subsequently die.
And then the mother, doing everything she can to protect her daughters is equally at a loss. She puts her children at risk because a society demands it of her. Another heartbreaking character.
This is than contrasted against the suffering of the young men conscripted to fight in a war they don't truely understand. As each young man dies or disappears we see the cost of again a society that fails to protect.
And then of course the insidious doctor who played the false protector so well through the story. We see a failing of society to condem the man as Peggy proclaims how it was always odd that a doctor such as he had come to their town- suggesting that this form of predation was not a singular act. Thus again society failed to protect its young and vulnerable.
The end gave breathing space allowing the lovers to rejoin although devastated from their experiences. It was a little jarring for the pair to reunite in such away but probably helps a wider audience digest the narrative as well as perhaps signal hope not despair.
Overall I felt as though society as a collective was chastised for its inability to help vulnerable people early enough as for it to hold the right people accountable.
Firstly the main character's tragic rape being set against such a joyful moment. In a nonchalant scene she finds a private space to pee after declaring innocent love for a young man, only to have the night ripped from her. Society's shunning of women unwed with pregnancy puts this young girl in such an awful position. It's heart breaking to watch her stumble her way through the pregnancy and birth, to have the child born too early and subsequently die.
And then the mother, doing everything she can to protect her daughters is equally at a loss. She puts her children at risk because a society demands it of her. Another heartbreaking character.
This is than contrasted against the suffering of the young men conscripted to fight in a war they don't truely understand. As each young man dies or disappears we see the cost of again a society that fails to protect.
And then of course the insidious doctor who played the false protector so well through the story. We see a failing of society to condem the man as Peggy proclaims how it was always odd that a doctor such as he had come to their town- suggesting that this form of predation was not a singular act. Thus again society failed to protect its young and vulnerable.
The end gave breathing space allowing the lovers to rejoin although devastated from their experiences. It was a little jarring for the pair to reunite in such away but probably helps a wider audience digest the narrative as well as perhaps signal hope not despair.
Overall I felt as though society as a collective was chastised for its inability to help vulnerable people early enough as for it to hold the right people accountable.