Warning: Movie Spoilers Ahead
Trigger Warning: Child Abuse, Sexual Assault, Murder
I’m going to preface this movie review with a warning: Where the Crawdads Sing (2022) is not a movie for everyone. Aside from being on the longer side, this film deals very heavily with abuse and sexual assault. It’s impossible to write this review without acknowledging that, as it is the entire basis of the movie.
This mystery asks one question: Did she do it or not? She being Kya (Daisy Edgar-Jones), and the “it” being “kill her rapist” (Harris Dickinson). The story is told in parts, where the audience first meets Kya as a little girl. She lives with a rather big family in a swamp. Slowly, one by one, each member of the family leaves, due entirely to the abuse at the hands of the family patriarch. Kya is the only one who remains and she learns how to live in her environment, catching fish and selling them to earn money. Eventually, her father completely abandons her and the young girl is left entirely alone and defenseless.
Left to raise herself, Kya grows into a very independent young woman, outcast by society and the local town. She does find love, but he leaves for college. Once again left alone, Kya struggles to survive until she meets a new man, Chase (the eventual rapist). They form a relationship, and he convinces her to sell her art work (she makes beautiful paintings of nature and all of the things she sees in her swamp). Now with a more substantial income, Kya goes into town to shop, stumbling across Chase and his fiance. Heartbroken, she tells him to never see her again. Of course, this is where things go down south, as he does return to her home and forces himself upon her.
Up until this, there is no mystery. It seems to be a sad drama, if anything. But then Chase is found dead, and local fishermen recall Kya’s fight with him. Already an outcast, Kya is immediately arrested and held without bail.
At the trial, her defense attorney fights for her, believing in her more than anyone before. The audience and the jury find that Kya did nothing wrong - as we did not see him die - and she is acquitted. Years pass by after this. Kya is reunited with her true love, the first man, and all seems well. Then the audience discovers an artifact that Kya took from Chase, showing she did in fact kill him. Given her whole life story, it’s really hard not to root for her. As Marriska Fernandes notes this story is “a beautifully haunting story of one girl's quiet resilience.” I urge my readers to use caution when selecting this film, but want to note that it is quite well-done and deserves the recognition it received.
Fernandes, Marriska. “'Where the Crawdads Sing' Finds Harmony in Nature.” Exclaim. 2022 July. https://exclaim.ca/film/article/where_the_crawdads_sing_film_review.
Im obsessed with this movie!
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