The path to equal rights and women’s rights was paved in blood and fear. My review will explain my opening quote.
Monica’s News
Monica’s News is a glimpse into the past, and when I say the past…I am talking about the early 1970s. I know this sounds ancient, but it was only 52 years ago that this story takes place in a small village in Nova Scotia. Directed and written by Pamela Gallant and starring Polly Gallant Mclean, Elisa Paszt, Kevin Kincaid, Allegra Fulton, James Gilbert, and Jessica Gallant, Monica’s News follows a precocious nine-year-old girl, Casey Richards (Polly Gallant Mclean), who tries to establish her independence by taking over the newspaper route of her brother’s friend.
Casey, who is way too tiny to lug that bag full of newspapers around the village, wants a new bike, and even though her father frowns on this enterprise, Casey’s teenaged cousin, Monica (Elisa Paszt) encourages the child to be independent. There is a special bond between Casey and her cousin, Monica. Casey delivers a newspaper every day to Monica’s secret hideout, and at the request of Monica and her teen friends,
Casey reads the headlines out loud. But it isn’t long before Casey begins to see and understand the patriarchal structure of the town as she delivers her papers. The anger of the townsmen towards volunteers attempting to get women’s signatures to change the law giving women equal pay is especially frightening to Casey.
Through her newspaper route, Casey becomes close to Hazel (Allegra Fulton), a woman who raised seven children on her own and decided to take in her pregnant daughter after the son-in-law was caught in multiple adulterous relationships. Hazel has her own problems because her son-in-law refuses to support his child and is always threatening Hazel, along with the obnoxious Catholic priest…a damn leech who lectures Hazel while eating her food. If all this drama isn’t enough to traumatize Casey, the child is also aware of Monica’s father’s bad temper. It’s the perfect setting for a disaster.
Conclusion
Monica’s News is both beautiful and heartbreaking to watch. I am old enough to have marched in the ’60s and ’70s for human rights, civil rights and women’s rights. We fought for our right to own property, bank accounts and credit cards in our name. But there were always the vultures who hung around to steal back any progress made…and there were always women brave enough to stand toe to toe, as Hazel did when she kicked out the freeloading priest. Monica’s News is a tale about a child who found her voice. A child who was brave enough to speak about the tragic event that she had witnessed…even though no one believed her. Sound familiar? Epstein?
The path to equal rights and women’s rights was paved in blood and fear. Monica’s News is not only a peek into the past, but a warning of what may come with religious cults and government representatives reducing women to nothing more than breeding stock. The film is well written and excellently acted. The young Polly Gallant-Mclean steals the scenes and our hearts.
