Product: Day of the Woman (1978)
Rating: 4.0
one of the most misunderstood films
It seems as though a lot of people misunderstand Meir Zarchi's purpose for this film. These people need to watch it again and listen to his audio commentary. They label it exploitation(as I had done for so long), but Zarchi did not have that intention. As for the title, "I Spit On Your Grave", that was a marketing scheme by some exec, again, not Zarchi's idea. His intended title "Day Of The Woman" appears on this millenium ed. case under a.k.a. (I never did see why it was called "I Spit On Your grave" anyway- i thought it was a dumb title. "Day Of The Woman" makes more sense).When I listened to Zarchi's commentary, it all became clear to meas he tells of the horrible event that inspired this film. As for the rape scenes, yes, it is long and hard to watch, but Zarchi is driving home the sick reality of the crime of rape and in doing so, he is pushing us into Jennifer's corner -on her side- so we'll root for her and hold in contempt her violators.When Jennifer does get her revenge, it is,i believe, Zarchi's messeage that this is what should happen to rapists; but never does. I agree.So I will never again refer to this film as exploitation and I will call it by its proper name "Day Of The Woman".Those of you who can't stomach it, that's understandable, but people who just bash it on the grounds of its brutality and say it is degrading to women, need to wake up! Siskel and Ebert even stood outside theaters when this film opened up urging people not to watch it...how stupid! If anything this is a Feminist film about how a woman perservered.Two more things:*Also listen to Joe Bob Briggs' commentary*I wonder what Roeper thinks of it