Re: movies

[revoredux <praxis1@xxxxxxxx>]

The film "Protection" is currently making the film festival rounds in Canada.I saw this film last summer and was very impressed. The
description below is from the Vancouver International Film Festival catalogue (Surrey is a Vancouver suburb) :

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In a slow-motion grey light, the rain cascades down onto Jane's windshield as she guides her car through traffic toward her office in Surrey. A child protection social 
worker, her days are never easy as she must continually balance the needs of state and individual. Today she is faced with a particularly painful case, involving the 
two children of a heroin-addicted mother. Jane fears that Betty's boyfriend might be abusing the children. Upon further investigation, she finds a mother who loves her 
children dearly even though her life is spinning out of control. Decisions are never black and white, and Jane knows the "system" with its managers and bureaucrats 
who are indifferent to the suffering below them. After years under this sort of pressure, Jane is starting to fall apart.
Drawn from his own experiences as a social worker, Bruce Spangler's amazingly accomplished debut feature moves beyond media clichés to paint an intense portrait 
of the harsh realities of child-abuse investigation. The story shifts between the events of the day and Jane's evening encounter with Don, an ex-social worker for 
whom child protection had become "toxic." As both writer and director, Spangler deftly captures the emotional complexity of his subject matter without falling prey to 
the lure of voyeuristic drama. With the addition of Brian Johnson's stylishly muted lensing of Surrey's suburban squalor, and a strong cast, featuring a brilliant 
performance from Jillian Fargey as Betty, Protection evokes a gritty realism that easily places it alongside the best of Ken Loach or Dogma 95.