Film Review: "the Blonde"

 The only reason this beautifully crafted movie is getting negative feedback is people who have made Monroe an icon and are having a hard time reconciling this with what a tragic figure she was. So called Marilyn Monroe historians who are little more than fans of the former actress, seem to have a greater difficulty adding up the facts, when you die at 36 in the manner, she did she either killed herself or was killed. Based on the book by Joyce Caroline Oates, while some portions might be over dramatized, it does capture the tone of Hollywood in the 1950s. Back before there hash tags much less one that said Metoo. When the unspoken rule of the casting couch was in place for attractive women like Marilyn who were not the most talented to rocket into the spotlight. 

A friend of mine was saying how they heard people could not make it through the first 12 minutes. First off, these people must be incredibly stupid if they do not know how fast forward works on Netflix. Secondly just because something makes you uncomfortable it does not mean you have to run from. In fact, the only way you get stronger is by sitting through discomfort. As this movie shows, no one even the so-called icons of our day were ever promised life was going to go their way. Babies do not have the coping skills to sit through discomfort but as we get older, we learn how to handle it, or should. I did not like watching child abuse, but I am an adult enough to know while it was supposedly a reenactment of real events the actors were not actually hurting one another. Especially the child actress.  But it triggers you because you were abused, well so was I welcome to the club, your cookie is in the mail, this movie was a reminder that no matter what you go through as a child as an adult it is your responsible to do the work and take care of yourself, and do not rely on the rest of the world to meet those needs for you or you will end up death at 36.

Despite not being curvy enough for Marilyn I thought Ana De Armas, did a fine job of playing her to the point that the physical difference faded into the background. She was most believable portraying the confusing and the mood swings, I think one of the most powerful points the movie made was showing how she wanted to be Norma Jean not Marilyn Monroe who was just a character she played to the public, the toll that double life had on her and how her untreated mental illness became worse in doing so. It was also interesting how when she started figuring out the Hollywood game, she began to crack, and they controlled her with drugs.  This movie shows that perhaps when picking our idols, we need to see how flawed they may have been as until you see that side you are not getting a full picture of them.