Raging Grace Review Politicised Critique Of Imperialism In Horror Movie Form
This horror film has interesting ideas and a great ending song; It is a critique of British colonialism and calls on the United States to take on the thankless imperial task of educating and governing the Filipino people in the spirit of Rudyard Kipling. How ungrateful they are. There is some creativity and good acting here, but in my opinion the film has the weaknesses of strong melodrama, a lack of fear and a scene of almost surreal silliness.
Joy (Max Eigenmann) is a Filipino living in the UK with her young daughter Grace (Jaden Page Boadilla). Joy works as an undocumented domestic worker and is exposed to racism, exploitation and deportation. But haughty Catherine (Lynn Best) is hired to work in a large, remote mansion for Catherine's bedridden and sick uncle, Mr. Garrett, played by David Heyman. Catherine has no idea who Joy's daughter is, and there are some strange Feydo-style scenes where Joy hides the girl and convinces her to meet Catherine.
But the film takes off when Mr. Garrett reveals that he had a Filipino nanny as a child and now has a creepy Oriental who specializes in the Filipino slave class. There are some good dialogue scenes between Hyman and Eigenman, but British horror sometimes has a bad habit of setting it in a big old house with creepy portraits on the walls, and you have to assume that the setting gives the whole thing a wonderful atmosphere . Although the final music scene has an authenticity and soul that the others lack, it often feels second-hand.
