The Handmaid's Tale movie is an adaptation of the novel The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. It is directed by Volker Schlondoff and the screen play written by Harold Pinter. The movie is about the republic of Gilead. It was set in totalitarian future of America. It tells of Kate’s story as a handmaid where she is subjected to bear children so as to avoid facing criminal charges. Kate nicknamed as Offred is the protagonist in the movie who is trained to become a Handmaid and a concubine for one of the barren couple’s ruling the countries religious primary regimes. This is after watching her husband killed, daughter kidnapped as her family was trying to escape to Canada. She resists but she is later assigned to the commander’s home as a handmaid. Most women in Gilead are infertile due to nuclear fallout and pollution including Serena the commander’s wife. Offred is forced into having sex with the commander by his wife with the hopes that she will bear them a child (The Handmaid's Tale). When it does not happen, she is forced to fornicate with the commander’s driver just to get pregnant for her life to be spared. She gets pregnant and later kills the commander and goes into hiding hoping that the commander’s driver will find her because she had fallen for him.
In the Handmaid's Tale movie, women are subjected to unimaginable oppression. Their lives are controlled in a way that there are things they are not allowed to do for example voting, reading, writing, speaking freely and even working. They are segregated in many things in the society. The Gilead society is strict for women because they are monitored in all their actions and movements and if they break the rules, they face the authority. The Handmaid's Tale movie shows men’s dominance over women as women are used as possessions for reproduction. Offred together with other women are denied their individual rights as they are only allowed to do what they are ordered to do (Bloom 176). There is gender imbalance because women are just a possession and they have no say on the issues of the society. They are not allowed to live their own lives for they are controlled by men. All young women are turned into child breeders for infertile elite couples and are given inferior roles in the society like being house wives or handmaids. In the movie, there is gender oppression through slavery whereby the women are forced to work as slaves for the wealthy people.
Everything in the town of Gilead is done in God’s name regardless of whether it is good or bad. Many biblical terms are used nearly on everything with hidden meanings. For example Offred is used by the commander’s wife to sleep with her husband in order to bear them a child (Atwood 78). This can be compared to the bible where Abraham’s wife gave her maid Hagar to her husband to sleep with her in order to get children since she was barren. Another scene is where Martha’s domestic workers are compared to the domestic characters in the New Testament. The names used in the movie also shows how religious the people are, soldiers are known as angels, local police called Guardians of faith and commanders are known as Commanders of faithful. While watching it very keenly, one notices that all of the stores have biblical names; milk and honey, all flesh loaves and fishes and this explains how religious the people are. They go as far as giving automobiles religious names like Behemoth, Chariot and whirlwind.
In the city of Gilead, there is a club named Jezebel where prostitutes meet with the commanders to entertain them in the bible Jezebel was a cunning and wicked woman and so the club depicts the wickedness that takes place there through the name Jezebel. Religion is adored in the city of Gilead as people, businesses and automobiles are given biblical names, and they are trying to act like the authority of the bible. Religion is used as a toll by the government to rule people and to scare them by making them submissive to the authorities. The people are always under surveillance and because they believe that they are being watched by the eyes of the police, they watch their steps and movement. The secret police is a metaphor for God. The Gilead people fear the secret police instead of fearing their creator who is watching them day and night. Religion is used to scare the people and this makes them submissive all the time regardless of whether what they are being asked to do is good or bad in the eyes of God.
In this movie, the characters are segregated by category, dressing code and their social class. The dress codes play a very vital role in distinguishing the characters class thus the poor from the rich. Moreover, it distinguishes the characters by occupation and caste. The actors are dressed according to their social functions for example the Hand maids dresses in red which conceals their shape plus red gloves and shoes (Callaway 134). The characters clothing reveals their status. The women who are from the elite class use the women with poor backgrounds as their maids an also force them to sleep with their husbands in order to bear them children since most of them are infertile. Handmaids wear red, wives blue and Marthas in green. Women are constantly sexually assaulted. Besides sexual violence is encouraged as we see it happen at Jezebels club, there are ready women at the club to service and entertain the commanders who are the male elites. Additionally, during ceremonies, handmaids are compelled to have sex with commanders in the name of entertainment. The minority groups rare sent to work camps to work for the wealthy because they are poor. People work depending on their class. Class distinction exists in the handmaids movies as it can be seen in the characters wearing identical uniforms so as they can be identified which class they belong to.
The Handmaids movie focuses on the Gilead society whereby most of the women are infertile and all women are subjected to respect the set rules by the authority. The privileged oppress the poor and force them to work in working camps and even sexually abuse them. The film is an attack to religion especially Christianity since they use biblical names as mockery and where they are not supposed to use them. Religion is used as an instrument of power and to oppress the poor as they are constantly watched by the authorities. They are forced to fear the government instead of fearing that their creator who is God is watching their every move. The movie is a tale of the suppression of women by a totalitarian government which uses religion as a power tool.
Works Cited
Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid’s Tale. New York: Anchor Books, 1986. Print.
Bloom, Harold. The Handmaid’s Tale: Margaret Atwood. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publications, 2001. Print.
Callaway, Alanna A. "Women disunited: Margaret Atwood's The handmaid's taleas a critique of feminism”. California: San Jose State University. 2008. Print.
The Handmaid's Tale. Dir. Volker Schlandorff. Perf. Natasha Richardson. MGMHome Entertainment, 2001. DVD.
