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This is the blog of Ian Rosales Casocot. Filipino writer. Sometime academic. Former backpacker. Twink bait. Hamster lover.

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Thursday, December 08, 2022

entry arrow7:35 PM | "Publish"



This is the last shot of Maria Schrader’s She Said [2022], the new film detailing the New York Times’ efforts to write the story of Harvey Weinstein’s years-long sexual misconduct towards a variety of women — a groundbreaking journalistic effort that ignited a social movement, and led to many reforms in the workplace. This last shot gave me goosebumps: a simple close-up of a cursor hovering over a computer monitor and about to press the “publish” button. It’s powerful, and its towering significance is in its symbolism, which has resonance: that simple act of pushing the button is the grand finality of all that takes place before in this film [and in the real-life reporting of journalists Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor]. Trying to get all the facts right. Trying to convince all the women to put their accounts on record despite fears of a massive backlash from a very powerful figure. Trying to navigate the messy background investigation of someone who has all the powers [legal, financial, etc.] at his disposal to discredit everything that is reported. But dogged determination by two investigative reporters somehow made what seemed impossible possible.


I love this film. And I find the muted response to this by both critics and audiences alike to be ... well, cowardly. So I boo everyone who gives this film less than 4 stars — that centrist tendency [not wanting to appear over-enthusiastic over a polemical film with clear leftist/humanist agenda] is one of the things that this film wants to fight. [Carey Mulligan’s Megan Twohey says something like, “I’m afraid we won’t be believed,” or something to that effect. And she’s right! Mulligan is perfect, by the way. ] It’s a solid film, comparable to All the President’s Men, Spotlight, and The Post, but does its brand of cinematic journalism its own way. That it actually features some of the real actresses [Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow] behind the story is also a plus.

I wish we had this kind of bravery in local journalism. But we are too afraid to confront power, especially when it’s deep and murderous. I too am complicit in that.

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