Review of Thelma & Louise

"Women who are completely free of all the shackles that restrain them have no place in the world". As per the musings of many misogynistic critics during its release, "Thelma & Louise" has long secured its position as a "feminist road movie" in celluloid history, but boxing the film into any category is to detract from its eminence and reduce its cinematic gravitas. "Thelma & Louise" is not "male-bashing" in its intent despite being written by one, nor is it subject to the male gaze courtesy of its director and cinematographer, all of that is incidental; the converging lives of two friends, both of whom happen to be women, head off on a freewheeling trip to liberation from their respective tyrannical, male-dominated worlds, and although it is men who derail their plans, they save each other, not because they are women, but because they are genuine friends. After a near-rape ends with the perpetrator being shot dead, the cops are on the protagonists' tail; only one is genuinely concerned for their plight, but when considering the twists, turns and revelations that follow, the action unfolds at a breakneck pace until its iconic finale that you really must interpret the film from an impartial perspective - yes, our heroines are ultimately overpowered by the male of the species, but that is reflective of society in general. In allowing the film to overcome you as its fiery power simmers into an uncontrollable flame, this only serves to heighten and intensify the film's sedate, serene mood, albeit punctuated with searing moments of violence, malfeasance and chauvinism, from elegiac, lingering shots of the sparkling light-blue T-bird piercing through the dust-stained desert and its sun-blistered highways, to the central adventure, trials, tribulations and consolidation of two women. Whilst Thelma undergoes a transformation from oppressed, naive housewife to gun-toting, empowered independent woman, Louise exorcises demons from her scarred past, but their individual personalities are what define the somewhat fragile edges of their friendship until it becomes almost symbiotic as they end up on the border of Texas, foreboding of the situation they find themselves in as they refuse to assume their subservient roles in the patriarchy. Crucially, Thelma's fickle innocence contrasts with Louise's astute wariness, and the characters are superbly realised on screen, to the point that the strength of their eventual bond is never questioned; they are interchangeable, and their conflating journey reaches such a stage that it eclipses the world around them and ensures that they cannot revert to their old selves - they are irrevocably changed by their shared and individual experiences and so far removed from civility and normality that what is deemed socially acceptable female behaviour no longer applies to them. Although humour peppers the script throughout, the labile nature of the action culminates in a suspense-laden dramatic finale that unexpectedly shifts into magic realism when a moment of pure cinema ensues; what follows is an exultant, immeasurable shot of such magnificence that upon viewing it for the first time, it takes your breath away in its assurance that our heroines remain free.