Room
In 2010, Emma Donoghue’s Room soared onto the New York Times Best Sellers list with a story of a young woman who is kidnapped at age 19 and held captive for seven years, five of them with her son, Jack. Now, the film adaptation written by Donoghue herself comes to theaters with the emotionally raw story of Ma (Brie Larson) and Jack (Jacob Tremblay). It’s safe to say that crying in the theater more than once is almost guaranteed.
The film grips audience members by the throat the moment the first scene opens in the 10-by-10-foot shed in Old Nick’s backyard where Ma and Jack are locked away. Their bathroom, kitchen, bedroom and living room are all within this space, with electric and heat controlled completely by Old Nick. The only sense of anything beyond “Room” comes from the skylight, which has a view devoid of trees or any source of life in which to ground one’s sanity.
Everything is put into perspective in the most terrifyingly innocent way when little Jack wakes up and runs around “Room,” greeting every inanimate object and piece of furniture. In that moment, it becomes disturbingly apparent just how small everything is in the place these two people have to call home. This realization connects with the audience on a level so deep it hurts.
The relationships that develop as a result of this circumstance are notably the most significant part of the film. The love and adoration Ma has for Jack and vice versa is so genuine that it becomes the only thing they really have to keep from giving up on each other or themselves. It’s that love and adoration that rationalizes the nearly insane things Ma does to get them out of captivity.
Many have complained that the resolution of the film’s main conflict is too predictable; they knew Jack would escape because they saw his escape scene in the trailer.
These people are completely misinterpreting the main message of this film. As Donoghue told Time, “This is not a horrifying film.”
It is a story about a mother’s love for her child and the lengths she will go to keep him safe. Focusing on the obvious plot is not the way to go about understanding the purpose of this film. The resolution of the main conflict is in fact predictable, but it is nowhere near as significant as the relationships that develop and dissolve throughout the drama.
The two strongest moments of Room exemplify this hidden purpose the most. The first moment comes when Ma is reunited with Jack after he successfully escapes captivity and goes to get help for his mother. The genuine terror on Ma’s face as she comes tearing toward the cop car where her son sits in the backseat is absolutely heart-wrenching. Every mother in the audience is likely to be in tears watching Ma hold Jack after wondering whether she’d lost him for good. This scene is not about finally reaching a resolution for Ma and Jack’s horrid lifestyle; it’s just about the two of them reconnecting.
The second-strongest scene comes near the end of the film, when Ma is in an interview with a major TV network. The interviewer asks Ma about Jack’s father and what kind of influence he will have in Jack’s life now, and Ma simply says, “Old Nick is not his father. Jack is no one’s but mine.” In this moment, the audience understands that this film was not just about sexual assault and captivity, but all of the values that grow from those kinds of circumstances. Ma encapsulates a mother who will do anything to keep her family safe, and that’s a beautiful revelation.
Tremblay also does a rather fantastic job conveying the effects captivity has on someone who grows up knowing nothing else. While in captivity, Ma realizes Jack is growing up with a completely incorrect understanding of the world; he doesn’t even understand that Ma ever had a life outside of “Room,” when she was Joy Newsome, because to him, “Room” is all there is in the world. This psychological complex is something that even some seasoned actors cannot play as well as Tremblay has.
In fact, there are rumors of a well-deserved Oscar nomination for Tremblay for so wonderfully conveying such a heavy and heartbreaking role at only 8 years old. There’s also talk of a nomination for Larson, who many believed deserved similar recognition for Short Term 12 last awards season.
It’s true that Room is the kind of film your heart will hate you for watching, but the raw emotion thrown all over the silver screen during those two hours will break you and then build you back up in the greatest possible way. Just stuff a box of tissues in your bag and bring a hand to hold.
