Descent: 2007 Review
Rosario Dawson Charters new Territory with complex Role.
Maya's (Rosario Dawson) nightmarish ordeal leads her down the path of personal discovery and solemn retribution.
Uncharted Territory
Rosario Dawson is known for not playing it safe and has an eclectic dossier to prove it. In movies like Rent, Sidewalks of New York and Sin City, Dawson has shown a broad range and significant acting talent. But she has definitely entered uncharted territory with her complex portrayal of Maya in 2007’s Descent. Directed by Tali Lugacy, Descent is a raw, unsettling look into what happens to a young woman who experiences a brutal date rape and spirals downward. Indie to its core, Descent is low budget (produced by Dawson and Lugacy) and the entire film was shot in less than 30 days.
Good Girl
Maya is a model student at prestigious Claremont College. Quiet and unassuming, there appears to be an underlying brashness in Maya, and Dawson balances this quite nicely in her performance. One night, Maya decides to hang out at a campus party with a former girlfriend. The two women are still attracted to each other but seemed to have moved on. After awhile she gets bored and decides to leave. Before she gets one foot out the door, Mr. Charmer himself, Jared, played by breezy Chad Faust puts the moves on Maya with nauseating pick-up lines, which initially turn Maya off. Not to be out-done, Jared tries again. Of course, now Maya feels bad that she “dissed” him, and agrees to continue their conversation outside. Away from the party crowd, Jared and Maya engage in a warm, friendly conversation reminiscent of two old friends. Appearances can be deceiving.
Nightmare
After a full court press by Jared on her answering machine, she accepts an invitation to dinner. First date. The sparks fly during a romantic meal and after subsequent stargazing, Maya follows Jared back to his apartment. A few lit candles and flirtatious quips later, they engage in a heavy make-out session. Things move too fast for Maya and she tells Jared to stop. What follows is an excruciating, difficult rape scene complete with dehumanizing racial/sexist epitaphs and taunts hurled at Maya. It is not an easy scene to watch and it shouldn’t be. Faust plays Jared with a smooth, non-threatening charm which masks who he really is: a serial rapist. Dawson is emotionally bare in this scene, and invites the audience to share in Maya’s humiliating grief and nightmare through her own vulnerability.
Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold
The film dissolves from the rape to next fall. Maya’s appearance has changed. Her clothes are shabby and her once glowing face is drowned in an air of solemnity. Lugacy uses a hand-held camera, so we see Maya in and out of focus, almost blurred by obscurity. It is clear that she is not the same person and that something has shifted in her that can’t be undone. Maya begins hanging out at a local club and meets Adrian (Marcus Patrick) a very sexy D.J. who introduces her to a completely new world of drugs, sexual freedom and personal retribution. Maya's experimentation doesn't effect her schoolwork, because she lands a coveted position as a teacher's assistance with a respected professor. Before she introduces herself, Maya surveys the auditorium and spots Jared. Cool and calculating, Maya plots a revenge rendezvous with Jared that is brutal and bittersweet.
Descent was written especially for Rosario by Lugacy and is an entirely new take on the rape-revenge movie genre. The film is now available on DVD and will hopefully inspire new conversations about how to stop the cycle of sex and violence.
