The Handmaid’s Tale Season 1
Television series don’t get any better than The Handmaid’s Tale. Or any darker or disturbing.
Based on Margaret Atwood’s novel of the same name, The Handmaid’s Tale is set in a dystopian future, in what used to be the United States. The story is set in Gilead, where the few remaining fertile women are kept as Handmaidens to serve the Commanders and their barren wives in a bizarre sexual ritual to presumably ensure the survival of the human race.
The story flicks back and forth between the present where we follow the life of Offred, a Handmaiden (played by Elisabeth Moss) who secretly refuses to give up her dreams of escaping the life of servitude and finding her daughter who was taken from her, and the past where we see the slow and subtle changes that bring about a world where men are in control and women are only good for one thing.
It’s a terrifying show as it reflects what history has shown us can be done in Hitler’s Germany, but also in today’s Trumptopia seems all to real that it could become an all too possible future.
As dark and disturbing as it it, Offred gives us the spark of hope to help us navigate the terrors of this archaic religious future vision.
The real power in The Handmaid’s Tale however is that many important themes and subject are allowed to rise to the surface, without being forcing upon the viewer.
Deeply compelling and thought provoking.
Rating: R16 Violence, sexual violence, offensive language & content that may disturb.
FILMGUIDE rating:
