WIDOWS directed by Steve McQueen (UK,USA 2018)
There are many reasons why the best TV series are more rewarding and creative than most current movies and Steve McQueen’s latest feature film illustrates why.
There’s something deeply unsatisfying and frustrating about seeing a complex, multi-layered plot condensed into just over two hours. A story divided into one hour episodes can take its time building nuanced characters and the twists, when they come, they don’t feel forced or rushed.
‘Widows’ is based on Lynda La Plante’s ITV series broadcast in the UK in the early 1980s. La Plante had previously written the peerless ‘Prime Suspect’ starring Helen Mirren which proved that ball-breaking women make compelling protagonists.
The need to dramatise, and celebrate, female empowerment is even more vital now so it’s not hard to see what drew McQueen and co-writer Gillian ‘Gone Girl’ Flynn to the story. McQueen’s commitment to sociopolitical causes have already been evident in his previous movies about ‘The Troubles’ in Ireland (‘Hunger’), sex addiction (‘Shame’) and slavery in the U.S. (’12 Years A Slave’). In each of these films he has brought an intelligence and depth to issues that could so easily have been cheapened and sensationalized in the name of entertainment.
In ‘Widows’ too, he shows that he aspires to more than making a predictable criminal caper movie. The setting is transferred from Britain to Chicago and themes of racial tension are incorporated via a backdrop of a bitter political campaign being waged between a smug white candidate (Colin Farrell) and his radical black opponent (Brian Tyree Henry).
The main story revolves around three women widowed after a robbery staged by their husbands ends disastrously. They are out to show they have the balls to follow in the late spouses’ footsteps. Harry Rawlings (Liam Neeson), the ringleader of the doomed gang left a book with detailed instructions on a daring heist which,if succesful, would pay off the women’s debts and more.
Rawlings had a reputation for meticulous planning which makes it all the more puzzling that he should have omitted to write down the address of target property. With the need to keep the action dynamic, this mystery and details of how the raid is to be carried out are left to conjecture. In consequence, a plethora of threats, betrayals, beatings and killings occur thick and fast leaving a trail of loose ends and plot holes in their wake.
Cynthia Erivo
What just about keeps things on track is the excellence of the ensemble cast Particularly impressive are Daniel ‘Get Out’ Kaluuya as a cold-blooded killer and Cynthia Erivo as the multi-tasking non-widow Belle (mother, babysitter, hairdresser, athlete and getaway driver). In addition, the Palm Dog Award at Cannes should surely go Mrs Rawlings’ West Highland White Terrier.
‘Widows’ is by no means a failure but it would have worked far better is it didn’t have to cut so many corners plot-wise. You soon begin to realize why the original TV series stretched the story out over 12 episodes and why it would have been better had McQueen been commissioned by the likes of Netflix or HBO to tell his updated version in a more expansive manner.
