Theatre Movie Review of Rabbit Hole
Rabbit Hole is a film that tells the story of Becca, who was going through a traumatic experience after losing her only son, Danny, through a car accident. Becca is affected by the death of her son, and eight months after the loss, she still cannot deal with the grief. As a result, the grief that is caused by traumatic experiences makes Becca become a rude, judgmental, depressed, and self-centered individual. Experiencing internal conflict does not only make her have opposite emotions, but the traumatic experiences result in her having conflicts with herself, as well as with people around her husband, sister, and mother. To lighten the grief, Becca opts to hide some of the things that bring the memory of Danny. Becca decides to conceal her son’s pictures, give his clothes to charity organizations and homes, and give Danny’s art projects. Besides, she also asks her husband to sell the house and move to a new house since she cannot stand having memories of her son while in that house.
The movie shows the challenges that families go through after losing their beloved ones. In the film, Rabbit Hole, Becca finds it challenging to come to terms with the death of her son Danny. As a result, she goes through depression that makes her be a judgmental, rude, and egoistic person. The traumatic experiences make Becca have a conflict with herself and also with people around her, who include her husband, mother, and sister. Although she continues to assure people around her that she is found, in the inside, she was deeply affected and in turmoil. As such, every scene in the film underscores the stark divide. While the Director tried to avoid the rottenness of the play, conflict tends to be prevalent along circumscribed lines. As such, the conflict gives the movie a season sameness based on the impact that grief has on Becca and her husband, Howie. The Director provides Becca with a more intense story when compared to Howie. It is because Howie experiences less generic quality of sadness when compared to Becca. Therefore, when it comes to family history, the play depicts Becca to have much to work through after losing her son, which made her get depressed and have a conflict with close family members.
There are distinct dramatic elements that were successfully used by the Director to explicate the concept that was illustrated. For instance, humor was used by the Director to both relieve and touch the audience at different points of the play. Laughter was used as a coping mechanism with telling of funny stories used to give a brief respite when one is experiencing a burden of loss of a close family member. When Nat tells Becca a light story, they all end up laughing about the story, which depicts how Becca and Nat had a close relationship. On the other hand, when both Howie and Becca are in a group, and one member brings the story of God’s plan, Becca lets out a brief outburst that left the audience snickering despite being in a morose state. The use of humor is one of the small touches that made the film to be earnestly uncommon due to its dramatic theme.
Another element that was used brilliantly by the Director is the choice of music and how the music was made to disappear when in the middle of an intense scene. When in a quiet moment, a scene was accented by breezes and chirping birds. Besides, after showing explosives scenes, the movies played some notable lack of score, thereby highlighting the ups and downs that the couples were facing as a result of losing their only child. All the tiny details that are illustrated in the film makes the documentary to be less than a well-planned and funded drama. The mood that was depicted by each character helped define the feeling and moment that they were experiencing. Becca shows how deeply she was affected by the loss of her son, Danny, and she is traumatized by the loss.
The particular moment of production that I liked is in the first scene. In the opening scene, we find Becca arguing with Izzy, her sister because she accuses her of being drunk. Besides, they also argue during a bar fight after Izzy tells Becca that she beat a stranger woman who started yelling swearwords at her. Nonetheless, not only does the argument at the bar affect Becca, but also, after hearing that Izzy was pregnant made her shocked and disappointed. The act is an irony since Becca had just lost her son a few months ago but found it challenging to come to terms that her sister will have a child. For that reason, the envy that Becca had made her need someone she could tell what she was feeling. As such, she talks to Howie, her husband, about the incident with Izzy, but they all have a different opinion regarding Izzy’s case that makes them argue.
The production of the movie positively impacted me since it enlightened me on reasons as to why the loss of a loved one can affect family members. After eight months, Becca still did not accept that her son was no more. As such, she went through a depression that made her have a conflict with both close family members and herself. I think the play was done at Rowan to encourage people to move on from grief even after losing a close family member. The intended purpose of the play was to show how bereaved families can cope with the loss of a loved one.