When it comes to positive things you can say about COVID-19, the list is very short, but one of the few things that this pandemic has done is reinvigorate the need for inspirational art. With her new film Marlene, Calgary-based director Wendy Hill-Tout proves how essential inspirational art is.
Marlene revolves around Marlene Truscott’s side of the true story that is her husband’s Steven’s wrongful conviction of the rape and murder of his then-classmate Lynne Harper, and her decade-long journey to exonerate him.
What the movie does so well is tell a great, inspiring story that makes the viewer actually feel for the characters through use of well-integrated flashbacks that convey Marlene’s past and present life so effectively. As a result, it makes the viewer want to do everything they can to make sure this sort of injustice never happens to anyone ever again.
When it all comes down to it, though, no one can enjoy a movie without well-acted characters that they care about, and that’s what Canadian actors Kristin Booth and Julia Sarah Stone bring to both the present-day and younger portrayals of Marlene. Throughout the movie, these two actors fill the character of Marlene with so much life and gravitas that it feels like no other actresses could pull off playing her as well as these two do; and, as a result, they raise the movie’s game to such heights that it makes the whole film around them shine as brightly as they are.
Right down to the very emotional ending, this is a breathtaking story about one woman’s determination to free her husband from prison and both the mental and physical strain that she and her family had to endure so that Steven could one day be free.
Victoria Film Festival
Online, February 5 to 14
Various prices
victoriafilmfestival.com