five years after ‘sexual predator’ Harvey Weinstein road to his downfall, we get She Said. The film based on that New York Times story that charts the downfall of the movie mogul.

Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan play the reporters Jodie Cantor and Megan Twohey.

If you know the history of the movement, you know they weren’t the main players that exposed the toxicity in the male dominated work society. They did play a crucial part to inspire the #metoo movement. Fearless in nature as threat of the bullying lies await for both in their journey to expose the truth in this taut historical drama.

The film marks German filmmaker Maria Schrader’s (I’m your man starring Dan Stevens ) English Language feature debut.

She Said is based on the New York Times bestseller, She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement. Which also stars Samantha Morton, Andre Braugher, Patricia Clarkson, Elle Graham, and Adam Shapiro.

Kazan and Mulligan are New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Cantor, who together broke one of the most important stories in a generation.. Exposing the bullying and sexual abuse by the Film producer Harvey Weinstein. This story would help launch the #Metoo movement, shattering decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood and altered American culture forever.

This film plays in the style seen in the classic All The President’s Men, Award winning Spotlight . All sharing one thing, they all exposed infamous scandals in American society (Watergate, Boston priest abuse). However, It doesn’t share the same flair and panache of the aforementioned films.

The ball starts rolling when Cantor receives a tip about actress Rose McGowan getting abused by a powerful producer who threatened to destroy her career before it even started. When Cantor approached McGowan she declines first, only to later tell all.

Ashley Judd (playing herself), exposes the same predator. Like dominoes falling not just other actresses come forward, assistants do too . Especially Zleda Perkins (powerful cameo from Samantha Morton) and Jennifer Ehle as Laura Madden the young girl we meet in a flashback at the start of the film.

Like similar films to She Said, the ladies have opened a pandora’s box. One that even threatens to get too big for them, but their determination to expose the abuse drives them both on when it looked like they about to crash into a brick walls.

She Said is not a film about sensationalism or triumph. It’s about the power of Journalism don’t right and with sensitivity. It does feel a little pedestrian at times, this was not a story that would be done quickly. Cantor and Twohey’s investigation was going to be a long winding process.

How much of #metoo movement the story behind She Said plyayed it’s hard to say. What it did do, it shook up the film industry and gave respect to the victims of Weinstein‘s abuse.

★★★1/2

Drama, History | USA, 2022 | 15 | Cinema | Universal Pictures | Dir: Maria Schrader | Zoe Kazan, Carey Mulligan, Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher, Jennifer Ehle, Samantha Morton,