Journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Tuhy work separately but in the same publication – the respected The New York Times. Each one focuses on stories of violence against women. In the last months of her pregnancy, Megan is selflessly working on material about the systematic abuse of then-President Donald Trump. Jodie seeks important female voices to tell the world their difficult and traumatic stories.
But all of Megan’s efforts are in vain – despite the scandal, the influential and wealthy Trump still becomes president and the search for Jodie comes to a standstill – traumatized women for years, tired of screaming, that no one wants to listen to. closed door.
As Meghan struggles to deal with postpartum depression on maternity leave, Jody uncovers a potentially powerful conspiracy – it’s revealed that Hollywood top producer Harvey Weinstein has been raping and abusing women for years, from underprivileged subordinates to the industry’s first stars to watch. . Judy and Megan combine their efforts and all their professional experience to find the truth. Thus begins a complex and at times dangerous investigative journalism that, it would be fair to say, changed the world.
“Every Truth” (“She Said” isn’t the best vernacular adaptation of the original title, so “She Said” refers to how difficult it is for journalists to get statements from Weinstein victims, and how difficult it is for these victims to talk about their experiences of violence) wholly of women. a movie he made. In the director’s chair is Maria Schrader, behind her the relatively new science fiction drama “I’m Made for You” and the series “Unorthodox”, another adaptation of another true story. The script was written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz (Defiance, Ida) based on an article by real-life Jodie Cantor and Megan Twoey published in the fall of 2017.
Schrader’s painting comes out five years after the journalists’ material was published, and from such a long distance the scale of the impact his work has gained over the years is particularly clear. By the way, both received the Pulitzer Prize for “Service to the community”, one of the most prestigious categories for this article in 2018. And this formulation of the work by Kantor and Tui seems to be the most accurate. They provided a platform for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of other women’s voices by talking about harassment and violence in a disturbed balance of power (boss-subordinate).
At the very beginning of the movie, Jodie tries to get a comment from Hollywood actress Rose McGowan, who was one of the first to speak publicly about her rape. Rose responds to Jody’s request with a deep sigh and a bitter confession: “I’ve been talking about this for years. But what changed from that and who believed me?
“Every Truth” is actually divided into two parts. And if the first hour of the picture seems rather viscous and stereotypical, then it is simply impossible to break away from the second half of the tape.
Such plots often suffer from misplaced focus – we are offered to see the story not through the optics of its victims and those who have done an incredible job of stopping the beast, but through the prism of the person who committed the atrocity. Schrader’s painting is on a par with such reference representatives of the genre of journalistic procedures as “All the King’s Men” and “In the Spotlight” because it gives voting rights to those who manage to expose evil.
Lenkevich’s script is a talented and rich text that has managed to move away from the strict format and journalistic routine over time and presents the living faces and emotions of ordinary people on the screen. The painting captures portraits of fragmented human lives and clearly shows how the Hollywood system was built to protect the abuser, not its victims.
Also, “Eer Pravda” manages to answer the question of why victims of abuse remained silent for years (or did not remain silent and take legal action, but succumbed to the powerful and wealthy Hollywood titan with a staff of top lawyers). He explains how this type of violence generally occurs and why a small human being is powerless in the face of a system of cannibalism.
Co-stars Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan did an excellent job of acting, making it reminiscent of another strong onscreen duo Toni Colette and Merritt Weaver starring in another true crime investigation series, Unbelievable.
And although there have been many movies about exposing Harvey Weinstein since Kantor and Tui’s release, the most accurate and respectful explanation on the subject seems to be Every Truth.
Interestingly, just as victims of violence are afraid to talk about their experiences and then gradually find their voices, Weinstein’s film exposure follows a similar path. In 2019, the offensively underestimated but absolutely wonderful drama The Assistant with Julia Garner was released. It was a story about an assistant of an unnamed Hollywood producer (although all the clues are clear) who suffers from psychological abuse every day and then witnesses the physical abuse he inflicts on young actresses. The heroine Garner honestly tried to stand up for the girls and tell others the truth about the behavior of the boss, but the indifferent system remained deaf to her words.
Released in 2022, “Every Truth” was finally able to talk about the problem of systematic violence, from which no one is exempt. And he was able to do it loudly, piercingly and honestly, defending every word with personal bitterness and fearlessness.