Instead of flipping to the State of the Union address last night, we watched another episode of the dark and dystopic Handmaid's Tale. Come to think of it, it was basically the same thing as the State of the Union given the state of this union. Anyway, my bro and sister in law had been watching this Hulu show and highly recommended it. They said it was tense. Real tense. They were real right.
Back in 2009, I read the book by Margaret Atwood and loved it. Naturally, I don't remember much other than the context. An environmental catastrophe has rendered much of the population infertile and a totalitarian, extreme Christian group has overthrown the government. Women are nothing - their bank accounts are frozen, their jobs are taken away, they're not allowed to read, etc. If you are one of the "lucky" women who can become pregnant you are a "handmaid" to one of the elite couples in power. The sole duty of a handmaid is to bear the children of the men in power. Handmaids wear red and are allowed outside once a day. Wives of the men in powerful government positions wear blue. The serving class wears grey. If you don't fit into any of these categories, you're shipped off to "the colonies." Want to rebel? You'll be hung on a public wall. It's an extreme world that often hits a little too close to home.
The acting, the writing, the directing, the filming are all outstanding. Combined with content that is simultaneously difficult to imagine and also all too easy to imagine, this is tough to watch in a really powerful way. One of the best television shows I've seen in a long time.
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