Review of The Red Pill (2016) by Jonah B — 04 Nov 2016

I caught this movie a few days ago in Berkeley, CA that was fortunate enough to have Cassie Jay herself as well as the one and only Warren Farrell there for a meet and greet as well as a Q&A.

Those intimately familiar with the discourse and debates surrounding the Men's Rights Movement (MRM) may find the film a bit too general or prone to oversimplification. But to paraphrase a line from the film, we're trying to get people to see the snowdrift, not analyze every flake of snow.

The film does well to challenge the oppressed/oppressor dialectic so often pushed by feminists and instead posits (quite accurately), that gender pigeonholing and stereotypes harm both genders in unique ways. Getting people to look around and actually do something about the parts that harm men has always been the hard part, especially when the largest movement purportedly striving for gender equality denies the problem, and even makes it worse at times.

Overall the film presents a compelling narrative with a well compressed version of the arguments and counter arguments that exist at the center of the entire debate. Cassie's personal journey and running commentary (as well as video diaries) on her own thoughts provide a welcomed personal aspect to the story, and I think it would be hard to argue with the conclusion she comes to at the end.

Give it a watch if you get the chance, and if you can't (the release has been limited), according to the director it should be on streaming services like Netflix by the end of December.