The Keeping Room (15)
Directed by Daniel Barber
4/5

SET towards the end of the American civil war, this gripping and chilling Western is punctuated by three powerhouse performances from its female leads.
Brit Marling and Hailee Steinfeld play sisters who have been left to fend for themselves with their female slave Mad (Muna Otaru) at the family farm while their father and brother are away at war.
After Southerner Augusta (Marling) narrowly escapes the clutches of two renegade Yankee soldiers (Sam Worthington and Kyle Holler) intent on raping and pillaging, they track her down to the farmhouse where all three women are forced to take up arms to defend themselves and their home.
Part-Western, part home-invasion thriller, director Daniel Barber delivers a slow burning, heart-stoppingly tense, dark and brutal drama.
It’s difficult to watch as the inevitable unfolds but thanks to Julia Hart’s finely drawn-out screenplay, these women aren’t victims but survivors as they bond and close ranks.
The most poignant scene is when Mad, in act of solidarity with the sisters after the youngest is attacked, calmly confesses how she was repeatedly raped as a child. Her stoicism and resolve is heartbreaking.
But the lasting impression is of a Western about female endurance and survival, a welcome change.

Review by Maria Duarte