When the #MeToo movement spread across social media at the end of the last decade, women all over the world shared their stories and shined a light on sexual harassment in the workplace.
The catalyst for that event was the revelation of a slew of sexual-assault allegations against powerful Hollywood movie producer Harvey Weinstein. The movie “She Said” is a dramatized look at the investigation by two dogged New York Times reporters that brought forward Weinstein’s decades of abuse.
Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan play investigative reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor who began investigating sexual harassment stories following the accusations against Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
Twohey and Kantor began stumbling across stories from actresses and production assistants of monstrous assaults at the hands of Weinstein who was able to use the power of his position at the production company Miramax to bully, threaten and payoff women into silence.
With the support of their editors Rebecca Corbett (Patricia Clarkson) and Dean Baquet (Andre Braugher), Twohey and Kantor travel all around the world in an attempt to find enough evidence and women willing to go on the record with their stories to bring Weinstein to account.
“She Said” pops along with the urgency and integrity of other classic, true-life journalistic dramas like “Spotlight” or “All the President’s Men.”
The performances are all tremendous, including a brief emotional turn by Ashley Judd as herself as she was one of the first actresses to publicly accuse Weinstein of assault at the risk of her career.
What makes “She Said” stand out is that this is a story about women, told from the female perspective, by women.
German actress-turned-director Maria Schrader and screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz give the women space to find their voices while showing the bravery of their actions as they take on not only Weinstein but the entrenched power-structure that enabled his actions.
“She Said” pulls no punches in depicting the trauma these women endured while celebrating the determination of Twohey and Kantor in their fight to bring the truth into the light.
This is a movie that commands your attention and shows the power the press still has to give a voice to the voiceless.
“She Said” is rated R for language and descriptions of sexual assault.
