It’s hard to see what scriptwriters Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Kathleen Hepburn did to make their Netflix movie The Body Remembers when the world broke up, so tense and real, until the story is in full swing. ARRAY Releasing, which was released by Ava DuVernay’s distribution company on Netflix, is one of the most impressive titles to hit the streaming platform this year. The story is narrated in real time, but after the first scenes, it is edited to appear as a single-take story, and the tension to wait for a cut or a pause feels like a held-breath.
Tailfeathers and Violet Nelson play the lead role as Áila and Rosie, two First Nations women, who spend a few hours wandering through the difficult situation after ila Rosie stands in the middle of the road, barefoot and injured. A short distance away, Rosie’s friend keeps screaming at her, but she does not approach and does not intervene when Áila leads her away.
The relationship between the two women is not only unpleasant, because they are strangers, but because they appear as complete opposites. Áila leads a comfortable, stable bourgeois existence and has just been fitted out for an IUP. (She has decided that she does not want to have children, although her boyfriend does.) Rosie lives with her boyfriend and mother, has no local support system, and is very pregnant. The more subtle differences become apparent as the film progresses, as Rosie notes that ila, though they are both First Nations, looks much whiter.
Áila (tail feathers) tries to comfort Rosie (Nelson)
It is harder for them to articulate the bond they still share as indigenous women to make major changes to motherhood. Although they often argue – Rosie accuses Áila of looking down on her and thinking that she knows better, while Áila is frustrated that Rosie is unwilling to open up and tries to retire into bad habits – hang she still cares.
The film shot by cinematographer Norm Li on 16mm keeps his seams invisible. (Long settings were stitched together to achieve the endless effect.) This is the second stitched single-shot movie released this Christmas season. Unlike Sam Mendes in 1917, however, he was not sold at this time. Here, the one-take effect is more of a means to an end than the real purpose. The one-shot style gives the impression that viewers actively participate in the story rather than just watching it. The movements of the camera to take into account the movements of ila and rosie in a small apartment or when getting in and out of a car, feel like the movements of the audience, but are clever enough to prevent the maneuver obviously feels.
Tailfeathers and Hepburn enhance that sense of authenticity by making scenes play in a natural way. Setting the movie in real time means that silence and unpleasant gaps remain and are not cut for action or flow reasons. (From an early age Rosie even complains to ilaila because she is too talkative.) The body remembers when the world started. He finds his drama mainly in the changing emotions, that is, in areas that are best shown and not told. It is difficult to protect someone from domestic violence if he is not prepared to leave the country. And the long, silent car ride in which Rosie decides, while Áila struggles with the fact that ultimately she can not make Rosie’s decisions for her, is all the more effective as she is one piece. It does not have to be cut or reworked to convey a sense of urgency.
Áila (Tailfeathers) and Rosie (Nelson) discuss what to do next
Their revelations are informal and almost unwritten, especially since Áila and Rosie are generally the only significant representations on the canvas. Even if other characters are introduced – the taxi driver who brings Áila and Rosie to a safehouse, the administrators there – the camera is mainly focused on the two women. The lack of pauses means that their conversations are often filmed with one or the other focus, so that the audience can better track the changes in the emotions of a single character and invest properly. There is not even music except what Rosie and ilaa sound like to themselves.
As simple as the movie is, The Body remembers when the world started, and it greatly affects how well it was played, cut and filmed. The one-take style is not just a gimmick. it serves a purpose and draws the viewer inexorably into the story. Rosie and ila divide in less than two hours, and yet they fail to say goodbye to how well Tailfeathers and Hepburn deal with the heavy material. It is not clear if these women will be well or if they will ever see each other again. But the movie opens the door so the audience is surprised and the story feels much bigger than it is.
The body remembers when the world started and is now streamed to Netflix.
