Review by
Ren Zelen
Directed by: Sam Levinson
Starring: Odessa Young, Suki Waterhouse, Hari Nef, Abra, Bill
Skarsgård, Joel McHale, Bella Thorne, Anika Noni Rose, Colman Domingo, Maude
Apatow
Assassination Nation is writer/director Sam Levinson’s
provocative modern-day spin on the 17th century Salem witch trials. As mob
hysteria and mass panic spread through social media, contemporary Salem
erupts into murderous violence as the population of the town hunts down four
teenage girls, suspected (without proof) of exposing the deepest secrets of
their community.
The film nails its colours to the mast from the outset with an ironic
"trigger warning" montage, advising viewers to prepare themselves for "drug
use, sexual content, toxic masculinity, homophobia, transphobia, guns,
nationalism, racism, kidnapping, the male gaze, sexism, swearing, torture,
violence, gore, weapons and fragile male egos."
Once the viewer has taken that in, the story continues with a narration
from high-schooler Lily Colson (Odessa Young), describing the events
that caused her town to "lose its mind" and set out to hunt down and kill
her, along with her three friends: Bex (Hari Nef), Sarah (Suki Waterhouse) and Em (Abra).
Admittedly, none of them are particularly sympathetic characters. While
stressing that they’re barely of legal age, they revel in wearing skimpy
clothing and the male attention this gives them, while feigning an aura of
defiance. They speak in teen-twitter jargon and spend almost every waking
hour texting, sexting, Snapchatting or Instagramming every event of their
lives. It seems that for these teens, hanging out with friends isn’t so much
an opportunity for mutual interaction as a support group for parallel phone
use.
However, they all have secrets. Teenage Lily is secretly ‘cheating’ on her
volatile boyfriend Mark (Bill Skarsgård) by sexting and sending
provocative pictures to an older, married man whom she refers to as "Daddy."
Meanwhile, at parties, Lily, Bex, Sarah and Em try to convey assurance and
confidence beyond their years, grinding on the dance floor to get attention.
Levinson splits the screen into three panels, (in the shape of Snapchat
windows) to imply that this is a performance.
The girls, barely 18, take drugs, have casual sex and flaunt their bodies
(Levinson here rather having his cake and then denying it). However, what is
never made public is the shame and tears that follow in the wake of the
events of the night.
The aura of cynicism the teens cultivate provokes a tirade from Lily when
concerned Principal Turrell (Colman Domingo) challenges her about a
piece of pornographic art she has produced for a class. She launches into a
justification of the drawing, citing it as an expression of how hard it is
for women to be natural when faced with the misogynistic environment of
selfie-obsessed social media. "It’s not about the nudity," she explains,
"It’s about the thousands of naked selfies you took to get just one
right."
Considering that her argument is not without foundation, the compassionate
Principal Turrell lets her off with a warning. However, the truly toxic
nature of social media is unleashed when the town’s Mayor Bartlett (Cullen Moss) becomes the victim of a hacker. His most shameful secrets are posted
online and shared with the entire Salem community. This is the start of a
string of events which have increasingly bloody consequences.
The next victim of the hacker is Lily’s own high-school Principal, who is
then hounded by the townspeople for taking pictures of his six-year-old
daughter in the bathtub. He attempts to reason with a baying crowd that has
labelled him a "pervert" and has no intention of listening to anything he
has to say.
Real panic sets in when scores of ordinary citizens suddenly find their
text messages and private pictures shared with everyone in town. When their
hypocrisy is in danger of being exposed, the citizenry turn very nasty
indeed, working themselves up into a vengeful murderous rage.
When her married "Daddy"’s texts and photos are also revealed, Lily's
secrets are exposed to scrutiny and she becomes the target of parental and
misogynistic hatred. As events accumulate and the town descends into
lawlessness and chaos, one teen boy reveals under torture that he has traced
much of the hacker activity as coming from Lily’s house.
The citizens of Salem, all "good people" as they call themselves, fuelled
by indignation and thirsting for blame and blood, go looking for Lily and
her teenage friends. These four shallow teens, living comfortably in a
middle-class suburb, now find themselves the target of mob violence. The
whole town, as Lily stated in her opening voiceover, wants them dead.
Assassination Nation offers a compelling examination of
contemporary mass hysteria and online mob harassment, but it doesn’t really
mock or challenge the social mores it presents, so one hesitates in defining
it as a satire. It’s brutal in showing how girls are expected to conform to
certain stereotypes but are then punished by society for doing so.
Hatred of women pervades the film and we see how certain men can lash out
violently when their dominance and masculinity is threatened by women or any
kind of gender fluidity. But, I would also hesitate in calling
Assassination Nation a feminist film, although I suspect that
it would like to see itself as subversive, at least.
Assassination Nation is not subtle. It is ‘in your face’ -
all guns blazing in a flurry of spectacle and shallow buzzwords. Nothing
enigmatic here, but there isn’t much of a coherent thesis either.
Assassination Nation touches on serious topics but never in
any real depth and sidesteps exploration of moral grey areas. To be honest,
it seems that when adults try to analyse or understand the complex issues
facing contemporary teens nowadays, they may be sympathetic, but remain
rather at a loss.
Assassination Nation is on Netflix
UK now.