JON BALDWIN recommends a provocative assertion of how working-class culture can rethink knowledge
Film round-up: April 24, 2025
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE, JOHN GREEN and ANGUS REID review An Army of Women, Julie Keeps Quiet, The Friend and The Ugly Stepsister
COMPELLINGLY TRUTHFUL: Tessa Van Der Broek as Julie in Julie Keeps Quiet / Pic: IMDb
These are vivid accounts of people’s experiences of far-right violence along with documentation of popular resistance, says MARJORIE MAYO
GORDON PARSONS squirms at a production that attempts to update Shakespeare’s comedy to a tale of Premier League football
Above a Gothic bar just down from Brighton station, something spooky is happening, suggests JAMES WALSH
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
MIK SABIERS enjoys the theatrical feminist six piece who have a lot of fun that the audience feeds off as the set rolls on
WILL STONE is impressed by Hania Rani who is already making a name for herself in the male-dominated world of modern classical music
An Army of Women (15)
Directed by Julie Lunde Lillesaeter
★★★★
IN 2018 three Austin women joined a groundbreaking class action lawsuit against the police and prosecutors in Austin and Travis County and were the first to argue that sexual assault isn’t prosecuted because it’s a crime that predominantly affects women.
Julie Lunde Lillesaeter’s powerful documentary and directorial debut follows sexual assault survivors Amy (pseudonym), Marina and Hanna on their brave and arduous journey as they join 12 other plaintiffs fighting for justice.
It is the testimony of these courageous and extraordinary women that cannot fail to move you. They are harrowing tales of sexual assault and rape followed by having to relive their ordeals again and again and not being believed as the police and the authorities take no action to prosecute their attackers.
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