#7: PALINDROME (Dave's Choice)

Woo boy. I've actually been putting off writing up this one because it means reliving this film, but inorder for this dear project to continue, I must persevere.  Dave and I knew going into this that eventually there would come a time when one of us would present the other with a film we—well, I'll say "strongly disliked", but we all know that what I mean is "hated".  This experience can be compared to cooking up an old family recipe and serving it to Dave, only to have him (as politely as possible) spit it into his dinner napkin. But going on with the food analogy, it's always not a mismatching of flavors or the way a meal is cooked, sometimes it's your own taste buds that cause your gag reflex to go into effect. Watching Palindromes for me was as if director Todd Solondz took a pepper shaker, unscrewed the cap, and dumped the entire contents into a soup.  And let's just say that I have a very sensitive stomach.

Netflix's description:

In this genre-bending indie from director Todd Solondz, 13-year-old Aviva Victor (played by eight actors of different ages, races and genders) desperately wants to become a mother -- and she comes very close to succeeding. Her sensible parents (Ellen Barkin and Richard Masur) intervene just in the nick of time. But Aviva is still determined to get pregnant, running away and losing herself in a strange new world.

It's funny how some of the movies in this unplanned, free flowing project seem to line up perfectly with something going on in our real lives. Dave had just successfully screened a brain child he and a buddy brought to life called Our Footloose Remake. He wanted to remake the 80s classic before Hollywood had a chance to ruin it. So he reached out to over 50 other filmmakers and asigned them each a scene to reinterpret. The only rules were that since there would be different actors each scene the costumes had to be similar so as not to confuse the audience. Unlike Solondz' Welcome To The Dollhouse, which I remember having a few moments of comedic levity, this film seemed much darker.  I was thankful to have a short laugh at the similarities of this dark film to Dave's joyous film project.

Before diving in to my review I think I'll start off with Dave's feelings about this film:

I like the weird perspective. I like the tone. I know you hated being confronted with subjects like abortion or statutory rape, but I like that the story uses that drama to explore these characters interacting with the world, getting into these situations, looking for whatever they're really looking for. It's a unique experience, and it feels fearless, and when I first watched it I didn't know movies could be like that. I love Mama Sunshine creating all this love around her, helping all these kids, the conflict of character. I get to take away whatever I want from that. I say she's not a villain. I say the truck driver isn't a villain. I say we're all careless idiots. The movie isn't clear enough about what it wants to say, but that's okay. I don't need a movie to say something. I have trouble explaining why exactly I like something, I just know it strikes some odd chord in me and I need movies to do that sometimes.

About 80% of the way through this film I couldn't take the weight of it any longer.  I needed a break.  I think Dave took this as a sign that I hated his choice so much that I couldn't stand to finish it.  That wasn't the case. Tension in films can be too much for me.  When I saw the Ellen Page thriller Hard Candy in theaters I walked out three separate times because it made me so upset and uncomfortable. Like downing a glass of milk after eating spicy curry at an Indian restaurant, I needed to cleanse my palate, to cool down, to catch my breath.

I was very upset and unsettled by this film and was looking for either validation in my overflow of negative emotions or a nugget of goodness that I may have missed that would make me see the value in this film.  Naturally, the first place I searched for this was the Internet.  From the IMdb message boards I found these two gems which managed to make me feel better:

This first one which made me laugh:

And this longwinded one which made me think, which I shall do my best to paraphrase:

"...the question of abortion is pretty damned central to women's status as human beings, and to their very survival: every country in which abortion is illegal has much higher maternal death rates, and all you have to do is check out stats by the World Health Organization to confirm this. It's a right women have fought long and hard to be able to gain...

Why do I say that it's unfair of Solondz to join on the bandwagon of how nearly every single movie, song, or TV show treats abortion? Abortion is treated, in these art forms, as either a) unspeakable, meaning, literally, the option is never mentioned even when the pregant woman is too young, too unstable, too selfish, etc, to have a baby; b) okay, you're allowed to say it's a woman's right, but only as long as you don't exercise it (see Sex and the City, Good in Bed, etc) or c) on the rare, rare occasion that a character has one, it has to leave her with emotional scars (Six Feet Under, Nine Lives) or physical scars (21 Grams) or destroy her fertility altogether (Palindromes). And yet, if women didn't have the right to have abortion, without fear or shame, it would be reducing them to slaves of their own bodies...(Find me an anti-abortion organization that supports birth control, and I'll eat my hat. ...And yet look how it gets eroded and attacked in the cultural sphere! To make my point, imagine if, in 1973, divorce had finally been made legal, and women's right to live with a husband of their choosing, rather than being forced by the government to remain married when they no longer wanted to be, had only just been granted. Now imagine that every movie that ever touched on the subject of divorce portrayed it as unspeakable, or a right that should never ever actually be exercised, or as something that will always scar a woman physically or emotionally! 

The main tragedy in Aviva's life, as portrayed in the film, is not that she's a 12-year-old girl who has no other ambitions in life but to be a mother -- something which, societally, is a major, major problem. No, this is lost in the wave of horror Solondz gives her...The main problem is this: Solondz wanted to make a film in which abortion, even when it's clearly the right choice (this girl is in no way mature enough to be a mother, and carrying the pregnancy to term is risky for a 12-year-old) is terribly harmful and turns the girl into a runaway, a murderer, a lost soul. She has a desire which is a sign of how young girls are devalued in this society -- again, think of how from a very young age she thinks that her only validation is to be a mother...Given the terrible things that happen to her as (Solondz argues) are a result of her abortion, it would've been better to have become a mother at age 12. Waaaait a minute -- what kind of a *beep*ing argument is that to make? Well, Solondz, abortion is not, in actual fact, worse than becoming a mother at age 12 because you think motherhood is your only value and you're tragically impatient to get there, because you think nothing else you could do with your young life is as good as that. (How many 12-year-old boys exist in the world who think that their only real value is as fathers?)

It's not, as some reviewers and posters have said, that the film portrays "both sides" as equal. On closer look, here's what he says about the anti-abortion side: They are portrayed as people who, at their heart, have pretty good ideas, about caring for every child, no matter how disabled (look at Mama Sunshine and her array of children, and how loving and warm she is portrayed), and giving every fertilized egg a chance to become a baby. They are portrayed as people who would be good, if they weren't also hypocritical And the pro-choice side? Their only portrayal is Ellen Barkin, shown as being materialistic (it's as if there is no moral argument for not having a child when you don't want to, and the only arguments Solondz allows her to make are callous, shallow materialistic ones). And the ultimate effect of abortion is shown as being terrible. I'm sorry, but this is not only *not* even-handed, but Solondz ends up siding with, and portraying as morally superior...

I understand that Aviva wants to keep the baby, in the same way the infamous "Then I Guess I'm Gonna Steal It" 15-year-old girl from Maury Povich wants a baby: they want something to love that will never leave them. Neither need a baby, both need therapy.  I'm going to take this film at face value and project that Todd Solondz is not pro-choice.  I'll save you the guess work on my end, personally, I feel that abortions are like tattoos.  They're a permanent life decision that should only happen under much thought and careful consideration—and if you don't like them, if they go against your religious beliefs, or think they're a good choice for you: don't have one. And regardless of whether they are legal or not, people have always found a way to have them (see: Dirty Dancing) with the outcome being far more tragic. Unlike Dave or Todd, I watched the film knowing that the future is unpredictable and as careful as I could be there could come a time when not only would I have to make the biggest decision of my life, I could have to actually physically experience it—something that Dave (having manparts, obviously) would never actually have to go through. So, watching a scene that had a religious zelot child discussing dead babies in plastic bags made me want to both vomit and jump out of my skin at the exact same time.

The one dangling thread that I was able to grasp onto in understanding Solondz came from a recent interview he did with New York Magazine,

“After I had screened Happiness at a festival early on, there was a college kid—who was a little bit drunk, I must assume—who approached me and said, ‘Man, that scene where that kid gets raped, that was hilarious,’ ” says Solondz. “And I knew I was in trouble. That was not the response that I was looking for, which is why I said afterward that my movies aren’t for everyone, especially people who like them.”

When I read this aloud to Dave he said, "Yeah, I don't get joy out of his movies, but I appreciate them."

And for anyone reading this who thinks me a she-woman man hater constantly looking to create a man vs. woman argument where one doesn't exist I will say that shortly after watching the film I was out to lunch with a close girlfriend of mine (who's opinions I trust). When I mentioned Palindrome her eyes lit up.  She said, "I love that movie!" She then finished her eggs, toast, and bacon; and I woofed down my veggie burger with avocado slices.  Reinstating my initial analogy: everyone has their own personal tastes. To each their own.

Next up a much lighter film: The Music Man.