The Wintress (2008) - By Brian Morton

Film Reviews: The Wintress (2008) - By Brian Morton
Posted on Monday, November 03, 2008 @ 18:36:18 Mountain Standard Time by Duane

While I'm a big fan of the 'revenge' movie, I have to admit, I find myself becoming uncomfortable when it's a woman in the lead and she finds herself abused. I guess it's just the 'old school guy' in me, the old 'don't hit a girl' philosophy that was ingrained in me from a very young age. Well, in the new movie The Wintress, there's no on-screen abuse, but I found myself just as uncomfortable...until the end!

While it's just 24 minutes in length, Bill Elverman has really caught something special on film. The story here revolves around two people, Elizabeth, who we meet while she's chopping wood and Mike, who's there looking for Sam, Elizabeth's husband who didn't show up at work. With one little phrase, "Can I show you something?", everything changes! It seems that Elizabeth is an abused spouse, but she's finally had enough and taken Sam out into the woods, stripped him to his underwear and left him in the winter weather to think about what he's done. Mike is then faced with a dilemma, he knows that Sam has been abusing Elizabeth, but thinks that was all over, now, faced with this situation, does he help his friend or his battered wife. After some soul searching, Mike leaves Sam to his fate, but, after a change of heart, heads back after dark to help him.

Now, while that might sound a bit simplistic, this movie is anything but! Stephanie Johnson is perfectly cast as Elizabeth, she brings just the right combination of vulnerability and hostility to the role. Elverman takes to role of Mike, who's clearly confused by all this, his friend deserves punishment, but is Elizabeth going too far? And Heath Sweatman as Sam, the abusive captive, goes from begging to aggresive with a smoothness that's truly unnerving. Overall, The Wintress is an extremely well crafted movie, the story is great, the acting is superb and the ending (which I won't give away here) leaves you wondering who is right and who is wrong, and what the hell has been going on the whole time! I'm giving The Wintress four out of four cigars, because it's a great short and it really made me wonder what happened next. I can't wait to see what Mr. Elverman does next! You can find out more about The Wintress by heading to The Wintress' web site. It's definitely a movie that deserves more attention! So, until next time, when I'll be keeping a close eye on my wife, remember............................................