You Won’t Be Alone Movie Discussion. I’m really not certain how I feel about this particular movie. Once I arrived at the end I was startled at the redemptive story and the turn that it took. But I have to say, I had to be encouraged, quite a lot by a friend of mine – who I disdain, named Frank, in order to push me through to the end. So, thanks for that, Frank. But I figure there might be other people out there who might like to discuss this movie and grapple with the arc of the child, Nevena, and what it might possibly mean.
If you’ve never heard of the movie, You Won’t Be Alone is a horror movie written and directed by Goran Stolevski and it stars Noomi Rapace. (You probably know her best from the Alien prequel, Prometheus that she was in, Black Crab, Lamb, and What Happened to Monday.) You Won’t Be Alone premiered at this year’s Sundance. The film is about a story of 1800’s Macedonian witches, and broken covenants and attempted revenge.
You Won’t Be Alone Quick Walkthrough
The movie opens completely out of context and with nary a hint of what is going on. So you’d be forgiven if you hit play on the movie and were immediately baffled. So yeah, the movie takes us to 19th century Macedonia where a witch, a horrifically burnt woman, comes upon a woman and her newborn. The witch, whom the locals call a Wolf-Eatress, demands the baby… but the mother, who is out of her mind desperate – understandably – makes a bargain with the proverbial devil in order to let her (the mother, not the witch) raise the child until her 16th birthday. The witch agrees, but rips out the child’s vocal chords as a covenant to their agreement.
And this is where the movie really breaks my brain… the mother, immediately takes the infant to a cave, declaring that the Wolf-Eatress will never be able to get her here. And that is where the child grows and spends every day of its life until its sixteenth birthday. Wherein the witch enters the cave as a hawk, then transforms to the shape of the child’s mother, and tells Nevena to come with her. And voila… she does. Sixteen years of this child’s life, which the mother begged for, wasted. Wasted in a cave, where she sees nothing, experiences nothing, learns nothing. It just wasted her childhood entirely. We’ll get back to this point – so stick a pin in it.
Eventually, the witch, Maria (funny name for a witch) shows that she is able to transform by utilizing an orifice in her shoulder/chest area… she consumes meat, intestines from a thing and then can transform into it. Which, forgive me for just realizing, means that Nevena’s mother was murdered by Maria prior to her flying into the cave. Ah. Okay. Got it. Sad. Regardless, after killing a shepherd because of her interest in Nevena, she realizes that Nevena is completely useless for hunting, fishing, or doing anything relevant towards living. So she abandons the girl, declaring that she is a worthless idiot.
Nevena infiltrates a local village, wherein she kills Bosilka who was trying to keep Nevena from the child. Implanting some of Bosilka’s intestines into her orifice (give to her by the witch?) she transforms to Bosilka. And when she does, Bosilka’s body disappears. While there in the village she studies the villagers and their family units. She sees the how horrid Bosilka’s husband is, and also the husband’s mother. She eventually learns how to cook, wash, and learns to communicate. And Maria? She continues watching from a remove. Later, Bosilka’s husband tries to make love to her and the weirdness of it all (yeah, it is a bit strange I guess) and the rudeness of his demeanor causes Nevena to kill him. Running, she pulls the intestines and meat from Bosilka out of her orifice, and this causes her to revert back to her old shape and evade being captured.
Transforming to the shape of a dog, she follows a group of men. Then lures one of them to follow her, and she kills him then transforms into him. Learning how to plow, thresh, and work the farm, she wanders the village doing what she wants. Later, she happens upon a group of girls playing dolls… and one of the dolls looks oddly like Maria. Intently attempting to look at the dolls, the mothers of the village are not keen. So unkeen, that they begin a ritual to exorcise the demon within. Or possibly to cure him. Maria, seeing what is happening warns her that none of this will end well.
When a young girl falls off a cliff, and she is about to die, Nevena realizes this is her chance to transform from the life of Boris, back into the life of a girl again. Which, she does… and she escapes to the forest. Eventually she is found in the forest by the villagers, and she begins growing. She eventually hears the story of Old Maid Maria from her grandmother: Maria, a maid in that village, desperate for a spouse, begs a witch to find her one. That and a child. The witch brands her, and leaves. Later, a man visits Maria and requests her assistance. She goes to the house and is forced into a marriage with the man. The rape injures her, makes her sick, and seeking nourishment, she kills a cow and drinks its blood… as one does. But, she’s discovered, and she’s burnt at the stake as a witch. But, the fire doesn’t kill her, it just scars her, because of the witch’s brand. And it is the fire that kicks off her powers.
Back to Nevena, she grows up to be a woman, falls in love with the boy that she had been hanging out with and eventually marries him. She is told to act demurely and allow him to be the head of the house… but when alone, it is Nevena that runs the show. And eventually she begins to tell him everything about her. Even after Maria has told her not to. But her openness and truth win the day and her relationship with her husband works well. Nevena gets pregnant, and she has a good life with her husband. Until, a wild boar attacks and kills her husband. After the baby is born, she is certain that Old Maid Maria will come for the child… and does all that she can to keep her from coming. But eventually, Maria arrives and makes fun of the baby, and her life choices – why would she choose to live the dullest of possible lives again? Then Maria cuts the baby’s neck.
Nevena comes unhinged at this turn of events. She kills a goat, drinks the goat’s blood, and then uses a witch’s spit to brand her baby. She then burns the child in order to activate her newly acquired witch’s abilities… and with that, the child is saved from dying. And afterwards, Nevena kills Maria by pulling her innards out. The end.
You Gotta Be Kidding Me!
Nope, I am not. That is one crazy wild ride my friend. But ultimately, it seems like Nevena is able to eventually come to a redemptive place by getting the childhood that she had taken from her years prior. But, the more I think about that, as I typed it.. I’m like. Really? At what cost? To have a redeemed childhood, and a restored life basically meant that others, a lot of others had to die. Sure, the girl that she takes the life of (Biliana) was going to die anyway… which, I might add, seemed a bit contrived and convenient from a story-telling stand point. She can’t be GIFTED the life of childhood if she murders someone for it, right? Hrmm. I don’t know. The more I think about this one, the less I like it. What did you think of it?
Edited by: CY
