Death Wish feminism

"Dirty Weekend" isn't a movie about a dirty weekend, although the plot is set in Brighton, England.

Rather, it's a feminist version of "Death Wish", even directed by the same guy, Michael Winner. I've never seen "Death Wish", probably because the movie is too controversial to show on TV, and I'm too lazy to rent or buy it, but I've seen "Dirty Weekend" once. It was on a Swedish channel, very late at night!

The movie is based on a novel by Helen Zahavi but since I never read it, I'm not sure how close Winner followed it.

In the beginning, you get the impression that "Dirty Weekend" is a tragic drama about a lonely, weak and pathetic woman followed by a stalker, who gets progressively more and more threatening. It is not. The woman, Bella, gets to know a mysterious Iranian cult leader, a certain Nimrod, who reams her out and tells her that she must resist. Nimrod gives her a parting gift: a knife. (In the Bible, Nimrod is one of the bad guys. Is Nimrod a symbol of the Devil?)

Bella then decides to do as Nimrod told her. She sneaks into the stalker's flat at night, and quite simply bashes him to death with a clawhammer! The rest of the movie is a veritable killing spree, as Bella hunts down and kills an assortment of the local male chauvinist pigs (usually rapists). Nimrod's knife also comes in handy, as the heroine disposes of a male serial killer in the closing scenes. The story ends with Bella moving from Brighton to London, apparently intent on continuing a life of vigilantism.

I can't say this is the best movie around. I suspect Charles Bronson was better in "Death Wish". Still, one wonders why a film about a female vigilante has almost no audience (and no customer reviews!), while male action heroes are all over the place?

As a feminist protest, I give it five stars. Watch out, sexists: the next woman you molest might be Bella. And I might be...Nimrod.

;-)