Go beyond the happy ending with ‘Room’

Five minutes after watching "Room", I found myself overwhelmed with emotions and I started crying. The tears weren't quite falling from my eyes while I was watching the movie, but as I began to digest what I had seen, it hit me that "Room" understands the burden of trauma.

In the claustrophobic beginning, we are introduced to Joy Newsome (Brie Larson) and her son, Jack (Jacob Tremblay). Their proximity to each other causes some friction, but within minutes, screenwriter Emma Donoghue and director Lenny Abrahamson make it clear that Joy loves her son. He is the only thing that's keeping her sane and alive.

Shortly, it is revealed that Joy is a victim of an abduction and she has been broken down, repeatedly raped for years. The act is not presented as brutal—it even seems consensual and that makes it more frightening.

It is real, as the rest of the movie is.

The Newsomes manage to outwit their captor and the rest of the movie then follows their recovery. It's a journey that's just as tasking as their time in the room.

The isolation Joy felt goes beyond physical. Once she's out of the room, her disconnection with the rest of the world intensifies. Who can understand what she went through?

Strangely, despite these heavy themes, "Room" is inexplicably light. It doesn't attempt to draw your attention too hard on anything in particular, letting a story unfold on its own instead. There's no need to manufacture drama when you're dealing with something terrifyingly serious.

In a brief sequence, the harshness of the world to people like Joy becomes apparent. She is invited to do an interview, to share her experience as a survivor of this horrible abduction. Prefaced with an apology, the interviewer then questions her decision to keep Jack with her inside the room.

It can be argued that it's a fair question to ask, but its effect on Joy is tremendous. The journalist in the film handles it with as much tact as possible, but people in the real world who talk to people dealing with varying degrees of trauma? They don't see the damage they do.

Donoghue, who also wrote the book from which the movie is adapted, has created a strong story of survival. Unlike other films that focus on defying the odds, we are presented with a character who gives up. It doesn't understate what victims of sexual assault and other forms of abuse are forced to "overcome" by the rest of the world.

Grim as that may sound, "Room" also applauds Joy's resilience and it offers a realistic parting shot: There's always a chance for things to get better. Hold on a little while longer. — BM, GMA News

"Room" opens in cinemas on February 17, from Pioneer Films.