Conference bookie::movies

942.0. "Desolation Angels" by TROOA::BUTKOVICH (blink and I'm gone) Thu Sep 14 1995 17:55

        Desolation Angels (***) - Choose this one hoping to see some high   
    drama. It didn't disappoint in that respect, however the movie turned   
    out to be something different than I thought.  The program description   
    described a story where Nick returns to Brooklyn from a trip out of   
    town and finds out that his girlfriend (MAry) has had sex with his best   
    friend (Sid). However Mary and Sid have different ideas about what   
    really happened. Mary claims that she was raped and Sid claims that   
    there was mutual attraction. Nick resolves to find out whether or not   
    it was seduction or assault.  I thought the film would deal more with   
    the relationship between Mary and Nick and the aftermath of rape.  In   
    fact, it was really a movie about the male ego.  Nick is more upset   
    that his best friend betrayed their friendship than about Mary's   
    feelings.  There was a question and answer session with the director   
    (Tim McCann) after the screening and quite a few women in the audience   
    took him to task for certain scenes - the consensus seemed to be that   
    rape victims would not act as Mary does and why wasn't he more   
    concerned with her feelings. He acknowledged that the film was always   
    supposed to be more about the relationship between the guys.  The   
    program also noted that McCann had been expelled from the SUNY Film   
    Purchase Program but was expelled in 1987 and forbidden from ever   
    returning to the campus because of a risque performance piece during   
    graduation. Somebody in the audience asked him what he did, but he   
    never provided an answer.