In this section of our Colossus Movie Guide for Women Talking, we answer questions you have about the movie. If you’re curious about plot explanations, meanings, themes, lessons, motifs, symbols, or just confused by something, ask and we’ll do our best to answer.
Cast
- Rooney Mara – Ona
- Claire Foy – Salome
- Jessie Buckley – Mariche
- Judith Ivey – Agata
- Ben Whishaw – August
- Frances McDormand – “Scarface” Janz
- Sheila McCarthy – Greta
- Sarah Polley – Writer and director
Women Talking | Questions and Answers
Is Women Talking based on a true story?
Yes. Between 2005 and 2009, more than 100 women in a Manitoba Colony were raped by a group of local men who had sedated the women with a gas used to sedate animals during medical operations. The victims range from elderly women to infants—a truly awful situation. After the women reported the attacks, the men dismissed the accusations as “wild female imagination,” and even went as far as to blame the attacks on ghosts and demons.
The film is based on a book by Miriam Toews, who made these crimes the center of her story.
What does Salome spray on her son?
Salome sprays the animal tranquilizer on her son to force him to leave.
When the Mennonite women agree to leave the colony, they also agree to not forcibly remove any children over the age of 12. But Salome’s son doesn’t want to leave. If you’ll remember, when Salome found out her son was hiding because he didn’t want to leave, she ran off to find him. During a montage towards the end of the movie where women are gathering their belongings and family members, we see Salome’s son coldly staring out the window. The implication is that he is refusing to leave. So Salome takes matters into her own hands and sedates her son.
The irony here is that the same tranquilizer was used on the Mennonite women, was the entire reason these women were choosing to leave the colony. Thus, Salome’s use of the tranquilizer becomes a penetrating commentary on power. The men used the tranquilizer for despicable reasons. But Salome’s reason was pure: as she didn’t want her son growing up around these monsters. The film posits that in this grand societal fight for equality and accountability and justice, you may have to get your hands dirty. If you don’t, the powerful will continue to walk all over you.
Where were the men when they left?
This question comes to us from Kim in the comments section. The reason the men weren’t there to restrain the women when they left the commune is because they went to town to bail the other men from jail. Only one man, Mariche’s husband Klaas, returns to town to collect more bail money. But he couldn’t stop them either because he was so drunk from the night before.
Beyond that, it’s probably worth questioning how these women thought they could get away with all the children. Wouldn’t the men find them and bring the children back? But the movie doesn’t concern itself with anything after the women’s conversation.
What questions do you have?
Help improve our Colossus Movie Guide for Women Talking by leaving your questions in the comments. We’ll answer it there or add it to the article and notify you. Thank you!
Where were the men when they left? They most likely would have restrained them?
Hey Kim, thanks for your questions! I responded to them in the article above.