When Men Try Too Hard to Make Feminist Films

Rating: 5/10 (5 September 2016)

I recently saw Don't Breathe (2016) and immediately had some opinions on it. The writers/directors are Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues, the men behind the bastardized Evil Dead remake. Don't Breate came off as a film directed by men that tried too hard to be a feminist film. Instead of an emancipatory message for women who resist patriarchy, the heroine is met by disappointment, especially when men whose characters are straight from the "damsel in distress" genre of medieval legends. She cannot count on men to save her, however, so it is up to her to discover her own method of escape, but in the end her oppressor and captor gets away because of a patriarchal, and preferential to military veterans, justice system.
I do, of course, get the irony of me, a man, criticizing a film made by men for not being feminist enough. However, truly feminist cinema, as I have written about before, is that which is written from the female gaze and offers a genuine critique of patriarchy that offers a method for liberation. Basically, Don't Breathe tries too hard and fails at being a feminist film.