Review of Day of the Woman (1978) by Donovan D — 21 Feb 2008

It has been alternatively called the most digusting movie ever made and a powerful feminist text. While there may be no critical consensus, at the very least I Spit on Your Grave deserves to be called a controversial watershed of a film.

While the film's depiction of rape has its precedents in more celebrated works like Last House on the Left and Straw Dogs, I Spit on Your Grave took it further than any film of the time. Detractors of the film decry its excessive depiction of a woman brutally raped as pornographic (during a screening, Roger Ebert witnessed people cheering as the woman got raped) while some of its admirers suggest that the woman's revenge presents a strong, powerful feminine ideal (remember, this was a product of the 70s).

In judging the film, I suggest its merit lies in that the film doesn't position the viewer towards a reading so much as the viewer is positioned in relation to the film. If you're the kind of person who when watching this film is enjoying seeing a woman brutally raped, it says more about you than the film.

Likewise, it asks the viewer to take a side on the issue of the legitimacy of vigilante revenge much as Last House on the Left did. I Spit on Your Grave offers no easy answers and I wouldn't wantonly recommend a film with 20 minutes of running time taken up by a gang rape to just anyone, but for viewers looking for a challenge and fuel for discussion, I Spit on Your Grave is powerful, disturbing viewing.