Anna is another beautifully done cautionary tale about the horrors of sexual assault.  Beauty and sexual assault really aren’t words that belong in the same sentence together but much like Noel Brady’s film on the subject matter, this isn’t glorifying or downplaying the subject but rather giving the viewer an inside look at what it does to the mind, body and soul.  And perhaps if more people are aware of what it does to you, the less there will be of this crime.

Anna is a young girl who looks to be between the ages of 16-18 who overnight goes from child to woman in the worst of ways.  While out at a pub, she meets a charming older fellow who listens to her, seems to understand her then hurts her, immediately taking her innocence from her.  Shot in dark tones and starting out with Anna playing with childhood toys, the film is beautifully shot.  Almost the entirety is done with a narrative voiceover detailing Anna’s inner thoughts, her process of dealing with what has happened to her while telling us her story and it’s powerful.  She goes through the typical stages of sexual assault aftermath including blaming herself and wondering why the other people at the pub didn’t warn her and her story ends in the immediate aftermath.

The film clocks in at just around ten minutes but it is ten minutes well spent.  There seems to be an influx of films dealing with this subject matter this year, dealing with it in a way that isn’t often seen.  Add this one to the list of those who gets it right.

As before because of the subject matter, I’m closing comments for this post, but keep an eye out for future works by writer/director Eamonn Tutty.