Ever since I read Miriam Toews’ incredible novel, “Women Talking” earlier this semester, I have been wanting to see the recent (Academy Award nominated) movie adaptation so as to compare the two. After weeks of waiting for a local theater to show it, I was finally able to make it to the final screening at the downtown Court Square Theater and see what has been one of my most anticipated movies of the year. 

I need to preface the rest of this review by urging everyone reading to first read the book before seeing the movie. Some elements of the shared narrative are best revealed in the book’s pace and reading it first can provide a better awareness of the intricacies and calamity of the story. Toews’s novel centers around a small group of women living in an isolated fundamentalist, conservative Mennonite colony in Bolivia. After many of the women, some as young as three, are knocked unconscious by horse tranquilizer and raped in the night by some men of the community, a small group of them are elected to decide for the rest of the women what should be done. The discussion of their options, either stay in the colony and do nothing, stay and fight their attackers, or leave the colony altogether is the focus of the book. The novel is written from the perspective of August, the colony’s schoolteacher and one of the only trustworthy men left, who has been asked to take the minutes of the meeting as none of the women have been taught  to read or write. Though heavily dramatized and admittedly“imagined” by Toews, the book is based on a true story.

I was quickly hooked. The framing device of the minutes of a secret meeting, transcribed by someone who is already familiar with the background, means that some of the most horrific details of the atrocities committed are assumed and are only referenced off hand. The reader is constantly reminded and surprised by these innocuous hints to what went down, leading to a well paced story. August, the only one able to read what he is writing, takes the opportunity to reflect on his own life, sprinkling his own dramatic backstory in the pages of the minutes and inadvertently writing a subplot that parallels but doesn’t take away from the conversations he’s witnessing. The reader gets to know not just August, but all the women very well. Each one has their own quirks, beliefs, and opinions about what should be done. Supposedly, this is the first opportunity these women have had to speak and think for themselves, so used are they to wholeheartedly obeying their husbands, fathers, and elders in the community, as they were taught. As such, much of their debate, and thus the book is mixed with long philosophical sidetracks, where deep questions about their faith and  nature of being are raised. If you like huge theological questions, this is the book for you. A new thought provoking question is seemingly raised on every page. 

The book nevertheless manages to have a balanced and varied tone, including many jokes and happy moments alongside the philosophy and tragedy. While a quick read (I read it over the course of a day), the book feels like it contains the entire lives of these characters and you, the reader, feel like you’ve just taken an entire semester of classes at the seminary. 

While admittedly not as detailed nor enthralling as its source material, the movie, written and directed by Sarah Polley, remains a faithful and meaningful adaptation. The same perfect tonal balance is struck and few liberties are taken in the story. Unfortunately, much of the August subplot is lost in the format change to film, with the narration instead being in third person. As a result, the movie is also not able to dive as deep into the theology of the characters. I found it interesting that nowhere in the movie, trailers, or promotional material are the characters named as being Mennonite. Aside from a brief mention of pacifism and the obvious visuals of plain dress and buggies, the movie could take place in any cultish community. I don’t lament this change. As a Mennonite myself, “Women Talking” does not present the most flattering portrayal of Mennonites and Anabaptists. But while I, in some ways, am glad that the wider world could skip over this association, I feel that modern “western” Mennonites should be reminded of their connections to this fiction and the real history it was adapted from. 

But these minor qualms can quickly be forgotten when watching the movie. The ensemble cast is impeccable and delivers some of the most stirring and heartbreaking dialogue I’ve heard in a movie in a while. The movie mostly takes place in the hayloft where the women are doing the eponymous “Talking” and there were many times where single location combined with the focused cinematography and acting made me feel like I was watching a play. 

“Women Talking” definitely lives up to its name. There’s a lot of women talking. But I am so happy to say that it also lived up to my high expectations and hopes. My group in the theater that day, were the youngest in the room by a significant amount which I think is a shame. More people of all ages should find a way to see this movie sometime this year, and though it is no longer showing locally, “Women Talking” is available to buy on Amazon. Multiple copies of the novel are available to be checked out from EMU’s library.