Cathartic

Rating: 10/10 (18 January 2006)

The impact is shattering; all the more so because it was slow acting. When I came out of the cinema I was a bit relieved that the story had not ripped open a lot of painful memories - and there are some. However, half an hour later I could feel the emotion welling up, and an hour after that I was crying. The movie is so subtle and skillful in gently peeling back the scar tissue covering the psychic lesions of past years that I didn't realise it was happening.
Scene after scene replays itself in my head. There is such a sense of loss, of desolation, of lives largely wasted and unfulfilled that it was like a death in the family. These last few days have been a period of grieving. What could have been and should have been creates a sadness which permeates the whole movie. This is catharsis time.