The Handmaid's Tale (1990)

[Scott]

THE HANDMAID'S TALE (1990) - This film is about a possible near future society like other films such as1984.  Robert Duvall stars as a commander of a new world goverment. The film could have been better and yet I thought it was effective and mildly disturbing. Most of the women are infertile except a few who are trained as handmaidens for the elite. Has anyone seen this one?





Post Edited (07-20-04 12:37)

[Tilebreaker]

yes I have. Strange bit of Trivia it was filmed in my hometown of Durham, Nc.  I remember pretty clearly when they filmed it due to them blocking off traffic.  It's not a movie, due to subject matter i suppose, that the Durham Tourist organization is proud of, they'd rather promote "Bull Durham"  Anyways, here's the weird trivia. The house where that was filmed- big long white cascading  staircase- was purchased by a local author, who later ran for mayor of the town. Anyways, about 2 years ago, his wife fell down the staircase late at night, and died. This parrelled a murder that happened around him, when he was living in Germany. So imagine the scandal, they brought him up on murder charges, he was found guilty sentenced to prison.  So, how's that for trivia- creepy huh?.

[The Burgomaster]

My girlfriend talked me into renting the video in the early 1990s.  I was skeptical at first, but I ended up thinking it was pretty good.

[Tom]

I saw this when it was first released and still remember it. The book, by Margaret Atwood, is wonderful. This is one instance in which the movie is almost as good as the book. (They changed the ending, however, and I think for the worse.) Of course, some of the nightmare scenarios in the book seem more plausible now than they did only ten years ago, what with Bush's "office of faith-based initiatives" etc. and with the incredible growth in christian fundamentalism over the past decade. If you're worried that the pro-theocracy movement threatens to subvert the basic underpinnings of democracy in the U.S. (and globally, as it already has in many places), then you'll likely find this movie, and the book upon which it's based, right up your alley.

[Neville]

Seen it. When I was in college about 3-4 years ago, we had this subject, Utopian Literature, and this one is one of the books / films we dealt with. While the film does its best to cope with the novel's ideas and is quite disturbing, it falls quite short when compared with the original. If you have the guts, read the novel, it won't leave you stone faced, believe me.

[Scott]

It was rather surprising to see Robert Duvall and Faye Dunaway in the ritual scenes. Makes you wonder.