"Outrage" (1950) certainly does express the personal anger associated with rape, but does it address the increased personal agency that often accompanies it?
Ann Walton (Mala Powers) is first subjected to stranger rape, and is then, in the person of her fiancé, pressured to succumb to an elopement which, in her distraught but furious state, she refuses. She then sets off on her own, but is soon met with more shades of her originals assault, as in leering, appraising men, and in one forced sexual encounter. Fortunately for her, she meets a man who is entirely outside of that degrading continuum.
The Rev. Bruce Ferguson (Tod Andrews) is a guardian to an agricultural community that is reminiscent of the more idealistic co-operative in "The Grapes of Wrath." Though you might say he rescues a lost, emotionally battered Ann, he does more than just take her under his wing. Their subsequent interactions create a kind of equality, mutual trust, and affection rarely scene on screen. Even their youthful, expressive faces seem to match, as they reverberate with warmth, sincerity, and honor. But their evolving relationship is stopped short of love and desire.
The interceding act is a brutish attempt on Ann at a ranch picnic. This creep sends an explicit message that the town is too narrow for Bruce, and too dangerous for Ann. But it also causes an investigation into Ann's past which in turn infringes directly on their present lives.
Bruce then, by force of circumstance, becomes the mediator of Ann's return not only to her family but to an unwanted marriage. So, Ann's new new found sense of identity and bodily integrity is once again on the rocks. Bruce's felt responsibility to her family and to her ex-fiancé's marriage plans take precedence over both a committed friendship and, most importantly, her own advancing sense of personal agency.
By having to return to her unloved fiancé, she must revert to a state of subjection, and this cannot be sugar-coated. She is now being instructed to want what she has already rejected. In a real way, Ann is being returned to the estranged state or void left in her by the violent rape. Her outrage which so enables her to reclaim her self must now be tamed for the sake a lifelong conventional arrangement which she had and has no part in.
This is the movie's weakness. A stronger ending would have Ann and Bruce set out for a new life, not necessarily as lovers, or partners, but as strong allies in a contemptible world that wants to deprive and dispossess both of them of a broader, and more compelling life and friendship.
Ann Walton (Mala Powers) is first subjected to stranger rape, and is then, in the person of her fiancé, pressured to succumb to an elopement which, in her distraught but furious state, she refuses. She then sets off on her own, but is soon met with more shades of her originals assault, as in leering, appraising men, and in one forced sexual encounter. Fortunately for her, she meets a man who is entirely outside of that degrading continuum.
The Rev. Bruce Ferguson (Tod Andrews) is a guardian to an agricultural community that is reminiscent of the more idealistic co-operative in "The Grapes of Wrath." Though you might say he rescues a lost, emotionally battered Ann, he does more than just take her under his wing. Their subsequent interactions create a kind of equality, mutual trust, and affection rarely scene on screen. Even their youthful, expressive faces seem to match, as they reverberate with warmth, sincerity, and honor. But their evolving relationship is stopped short of love and desire.
The interceding act is a brutish attempt on Ann at a ranch picnic. This creep sends an explicit message that the town is too narrow for Bruce, and too dangerous for Ann. But it also causes an investigation into Ann's past which in turn infringes directly on their present lives.
Bruce then, by force of circumstance, becomes the mediator of Ann's return not only to her family but to an unwanted marriage. So, Ann's new new found sense of identity and bodily integrity is once again on the rocks. Bruce's felt responsibility to her family and to her ex-fiancé's marriage plans take precedence over both a committed friendship and, most importantly, her own advancing sense of personal agency.
By having to return to her unloved fiancé, she must revert to a state of subjection, and this cannot be sugar-coated. She is now being instructed to want what she has already rejected. In a real way, Ann is being returned to the estranged state or void left in her by the violent rape. Her outrage which so enables her to reclaim her self must now be tamed for the sake a lifelong conventional arrangement which she had and has no part in.
This is the movie's weakness. A stronger ending would have Ann and Bruce set out for a new life, not necessarily as lovers, or partners, but as strong allies in a contemptible world that wants to deprive and dispossess both of them of a broader, and more compelling life and friendship.