Wedding in White

source: Wedding in White

Moviecut—Wedding in White

Wedding in White

I just finished seeing Wedding in White and I have to say that the experience was somewhat akin to seeing Herzog's 'Even Dwarfs Started Small' or Duk's 'Address Unknown' for the first time. Here's the synopsis: During World War 2 in small town Ontario, Canada, a mousey sixteen year old girl gets raped at her house by a friend of a friend. When her Catholic mother finds out that her daughter is carrying a child from the attack she accuses her daughter of bringing it on herself. Now for those of you who don't know, in Canada they were incarcerating young girls for promiscuity as late as the sixties, so being the forties, the mother pleads with her husband not to send their young girl away. Let's just say that the alternative they come up is worse than you could ever imagine. For those who can tolerate this kind of difficult subject matter, I highly recommend this film. Talk about Subconscious Cruelty!

It's WWII in a small working class Canadian town. Jeannie Dougall (Carol Kane) is a good girl living at home with her parents (Donald Pleasence, Doris Petrie). Her brother Jimmie comes home on furlough with military buddy Billy (Doug McGrath). After a night of drinking, Jeannie's friend rejects Billy who ends up raping her instead. Jeannie gets pregnant. Her father refuses to believe a soldier would act dishonorably. He forces her to marry his elderly drunken war buddy Sandy to maintain his honor. This is a small Canadian indie. It's pretty good. The accent is a little tough. The production is definitely older. It's grimy and old working class. The acting from Pleasence and Petrie is terrific. Carol Kane is sadly naive and in need of a big hug. It does need more in terms of intensity. I wonder if the movie needs a scene where Jeannie begs Billy to accept his part in the pregnancy. This movie needs something to elevate the drama.