Warning: The following contains references to sexual assault.

Following a strong run on the film festival circuit, Sarah Polley's drama "Women Talking" is getting a theatrical release by United Artists Releasing. This is a difficult story: It's an account of victimized women within an insular community trying to take back their power, despite being at a significant — and purposeful — disadvantage. Only men are allowed to receive an education and take leadership roles within this settlement, and as a direct result of the systemic sexism running rampant through the population, the core values of their faith have been corrupted. Men have been violently sexually assaulting the women and children, and if nothing is done, this behavior will certainly continue. 

"Women Talking" is what the title implies: a story centered around women talking about their situation and trying to plan their next move. The film is an adaptation of Miriam Toews' novel of the same name, which itself is inspired by the real-life crimes that rocked a Mennonite community. As Vice reported in 2013, in an article aptly titled "The Ghost Rapes of Bolivia," the women of a Manitoba Colony were drugged and raped in their sleep — in their own bedrooms — then were told they were either making it up or were being attacked by demons. The truth was much more sinister: Several Mennonite men were using an anesthetic spray meant for cows to incapacitate their victims, then would break into their homes and violently assault them. This activity went unchecked for years. It's a horrific example of isolation and misogyny breeding pure, human evil. 

Thankfully, Polley's film "Women Talking" focuses on the female population seeking ways to empower themselves, rather than lingering on the sordid details of criminal activities. 

Watch The Women Talking Trailer

"Women Talking" written and directed by Sarah Polley, based on the novel by Miriam Toews. It stars veteran character actors Rooney Mara ("The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"), Claire Foy ("The Crown"), Jessie Buckley ("Chernobyl"), Ben Whishaw ("Skyfall"), Frances McDormand ("Fargo"), Judith Ivey ("What the Deaf Man Heard"), and Sheila McCarthy ("Die Hard 2"), as well as newcomers Michelle McLeod, Emily Mitchell, Liv McNeil, Kate Hallett, August Winter, Kira Guloien, and Shayla Brown. 

"Women Talking" opens in a limited theatrical release on December 2, 2022.  

Based on the best-selling novel by Miriam Toews, Women Talking follows a group of women in an isolated religious colony as they struggle to reconcile their faith with a series of sexual assaults committed by the colony's men.Stars Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey, Ben Whishaw, Frances McDormand, Sheila McCarthy and Michelle McLeod.

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