Review of Victoria (2015) by Augustine H — 08 Dec 2016

"Victoria" is an excellent cinematic journey; here, the director, Sebastian Schipper has chosen to film the entire work in one take. This creates an extremely fluid narrative. We see Victoria's entire turbulent adventure unfold before us in one anxiety inducing night.

The main idea of this film is not the journey itself which is marked by armed bank robbery; illicit drug use; wild clubbing; and dating, but the profound emotional range of Victoria. The film really focuses on illustrating Victoria's wide array of emotional depth: We see her fall in love; afraid; anxious; ecstatic; longing; confused; euphoric; agonizing; restorative; and most importantly brave.

Based upon the way the plot is structured-- it may seem that Victoria is brought on an adventure, but this interpretation of the work mystifies Victoria's agency: She is really the one leading throughout the night.

Although, we are first presented Victoria as a simple party girl, after some time-- we begin to see her as an heroine capable of dealing with vast array of life obstacles and blessed with an almost unreasonable amount of virtue.

It is her virtue that carries along Sonne, Boxer, and Blinker through the robbery by providing emotional support and labor through driving abilities. It is also her presence which forces Sonne to continually center himself throughout the narrative; if he was incapable of doing so-- the entire bank operation may have failed from the beginning due t lack of direction.

Blinker was too erratic; Boxer was too emotionally driven-- out of fear largely; and Sonne had lost objectivity due to his infatuation with Victoria. But Victoria, albeit in love with Sonne never loses her objectivity in the film.

She is a heroine through and through. Although she has a romantic interest throughout the film-- she never lets her lover define who she is; remove her agency; bestow her direction; or cause her to forget who she is, what she must do, and completing the task before her.

Victoria is an perfect example of a female virtue ethicist. She is an great model for practicing Aristotelian virtues in the most turbulent of times. Unlike a stoic leader, Victoria allows for every varied emotional state to overtake her and yet still use that to her to advantage.

Aristotle teaches us to feel bad when we have done wrong; to feel good when we have done great; and to feel sad when times are pressing instead of hiding from our emotions; and ultimately not dealing with our emotions nor using them effectively in a virtuous manner.

Victoria does all of this. And that's why her narrative is so compelling.