Men - The Business of Birth Control
A new film from filmmakers Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein aims to reframe the conversation around hormone-based contraceptives. But it’s a muddled message that risks misguiding women.
It is legitimate to raise questions about the safety of hormonal birth control. But it feels disingenuous to ignore, as the film largely does, the extensive exploration of these very questions.
What is the film about?
Alex Garland makes his feature debut with Men, a haunting gender-inflected psychological thriller that takes a fresh look at the dynamics between men and women. The film is a direct response to the rage that’s erupted over sexual harassment and rape culture in the MeToo movement, but it also extends Garland’s longstanding preoccupation with power and sexuality between men and women all the way back to his earliest work.
The film centers on four men, Lewis (Burt Reynolds), Ed (Jon Voight), Bobby (Ned Beatty) and Drew (Ronny Cox), who go out to a mountain area where a river is about to be flooded for a dam. Their trip is supposed to be a fun, outdoor weekend, but their lack of preparation and ignorance of the dangers of the area lead them to be unprepared for what they’ll encounter.
When they arrive at the destination, they drop their cars off and take to the water, ignoring the warnings of locals who tell them that the rapids are dangerous. They eventually find themselves in a predicament, battling to stay alive as two violent mountain men attack them and sexually assault the three of them.
Aside from the harrowing moments of violence, the film is also notable for the visual style. The film’s set design is evocative of the Appalachian mountains, with its rugged terrain and dense forests. The use of greens and blues gives the film a natural feel, while the black-and-white photography is also stunning.
The film’s final sequence is particularly memorable. When the trio comes out of the water, they’re greeted by the same pair of mountain men as they were at the start of the film. They seem to be stalking them, and they’re soon morphing into the same grotesque figure as the Green Man carvings that are seen throughout the film.
What are the main points of the film?
The film has its merits, but it is not the only one in the crowded field of cinematic glories. To get the most out of your movie-going experience, you should have a solid grasp of the basic elements and their relationship to each other. This should include a clear understanding of the movie's premise, plot structure, and characters. The key is to understand what you are watching and why it was made - and to be ready to answer all of the questions that come your way. This will help you to avoid the film equivalent of a hangover when it is over and have an enjoyable time from start to finish. The best way to do this is by taking a closer look at the film you are considering for your next viewing session.
What are the main characters in the film?
Abby Epstein and Ricki Lake, the makers of the acclaimed The Business of Being Born, are back with another documentary. This time, they’re making a film about the side effects of hormonal birth control and its impact on women’s lives.
They’re not the only ones concerned about these drugs; the film also features grieving parents who lost their daughters to birth control side effects, a dynamic duo of nurses and doulas who work with women in their most vulnerable moments, and a number of medical experts, activists, and reproductive health advocates. But the movie’s harrowing and often heartbreaking stories are what really shine through.
The film isn’t afraid to point out the pill’s sordid history, tracing it from its roots in eugenics to the Puerto Rican women who died during the controversial trials that allowed drug companies to release the contraceptive to the general public. It’s an important part of the story that’s often overlooked, but one that Epstein and Lake make sure to highlight.
But the film makes some disingenuous claims, pushing its message in strange and suggestive ways. Despite its good intentions, The Business of Birth Control doesn’t adequately address the broader issues surrounding hormone-based contraceptives and the risks to women’s mental, physical, and emotional health that they pose.
It largely ignores the extensive exploration of these issues in clinical data, peer-reviewed scientific literature, and mainstream reporting. It also uses heavy-handed storytelling that relies on anecdata and sources with vested interests.
As such, the film is more a call for change than a defensible critique of birth control. It lays out a vision of how satisfied informed consent could look, but its message feels muddled and sloppy.
What are the main themes of the film?
The main themes of a movie are what help audiences relate to it and remember it for years to come. They also serve as a framework to build on, so that the story can be told in a meaningful way.
These themes can range from empathy, kindness, good vs. evil, courage and perseverance, revenge, beauty of simplicity, coming of age, or any other common theme you might expect in a movie. They can even be found in some of the most popular films around the world, such as Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill (1997) and "Dazed and Confused" (2003).
To decipher the underlying theme of a short film, you need to pay close attention to the plot and character development. This is more difficult than it would be to do in a full-feature movie, however.
For example, if the movie’s theme is courage and perseverance, you might notice that the main character is passionate about what they do, and they might face more obstacles than the average person. Then, you might see that they are determined to overcome their fears, so they are able to complete the task at hand.
Another common theme in movies is love. This can be demonstrated through a number of ways, such as a romantic relationship or a platonic relationship.
It can also be shown through actions and words, such as a love letter. This is a great theme to have in a film because it can show viewers the importance of loving others and having a family.
Depending on the time period or decade that the movie is set in, it can have a lot of different themes to choose from. For example, in the 1940s, World War II interrupted lives and families everywhere, so society had to make adjustments.
What are the main characters in the film’s conclusion?
At its core, the film is a critique of the pharmaceutical industry. It shows the ethically questionable medical trials used to get FDA approval for hormonal birth control, and calls out the reluctance of pharmaceutical companies to disclose possible side effects to patients.
However, the film’s main goal is to show the damage that hormonal birth control can do to women’s health, and it does this largely through interviews with people who have experienced negative effects from using the pill. It also shows the devastating effects that the pill can have on women’s mental health, particularly anxiety and depression.
The film argues that there is a widespread lack of awareness about the side effects of hormone-based contraceptives, and that this has led to a culture in which everyone seems to think that they should use the pill. It claims that women are not being given enough information about the risks of the pill, and that the FDA should be required to issue a “black box” warning similar to the surgeon general’s statement on cigarettes.
It explains that the pill has caused hundreds of thousands of women to suffer from dangerous side effects like blood clots and stroke. It also points to the deaths of countless women who took the pill, and argues that it is no longer safe for women to take it.
One of the main characters in the film’s conclusion is the co-founder of the feminist women’s health movement, Margaret Sanger (1879-1966). While the filmmakers show photographs of Sanger’s early activism to spread birth control information, they gloss over her organizational work and support for medical research on diaphragms and cervical caps to portray her as a lifelong racist and eugenicist.
