Wanda Movie Review
It is easy for us to see the humanity in characters who DO things in their lives, who show subtle acts of courage, who make small gestures of kindness. But what about a character who is completely passive, who lets her life and her family drift away from her? Welcome to the world of Wanda, whom we first see on the couch of her sister and brother-in-law, sleepily getting ready for what turns out to be a custody hearing for her children. She arrives late to court and puts up no resistance to her husband's demand for custody, saying that the kids would be better off with him. She has a one-night stand in a motel with a traveling salesman who tries to leave without her. Later, while using the bathroom in a bar, she encounters Mr. Dennis (Michael Higgins, then 48) the most inept thief imaginable. Wanda hooks up with him, sleeps with him, and grudgingly accompanies him on jobs. Later, she wanders off by herself and, in one solitary struggle for self preservation, Wanda fights off a rapist in a car. We last see her sitting alone in a bar. Aside from a few words of dialogue here and there (“Don't you like onions? I do”), Wanda doesn't have a whole lot to say for herself, nor does the uptight Mr. Dennis, except to bark orders at her. Yet the story is told simply and well, without the intrusions of stylish flourishes or cinematic razzle dazzle. It is hard to imagine how anyone could BE Wanda, but it's clear that she doesn't spend much time wondering about that. Wanda won the International Critic's Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1971, and director Barbara Loden (1932–80), who played Wanda, appeared on The Mike Douglas Show in 1972 as the guest of Yoko Ono and John Lennon. Aside from two supporting roles in Wild River and Splendor in the Grass and some stills of her Tony-winning performance in After the Fall, Wanda and the one television appearance are all that survive of stage director Loden's legacy to the world. Yet she had an influence on independent filmmakers who followed her. She made up her own rules as she went along and Wanda’s unself-conscious realism continues to startle audiences today. It IS a tough film to find; I finally saw it on a PAL transfer from a video issued by the British Film Institute. Good luck tracking it down, though. Wanda is well worth watching.
1970 (PG) 100m/C Barbara Loden, Michael Higgins, Dorothy Shupenes, Peter Shupenes, Jerome Their, Marian Their, Rotell Anthony; D: Barbara Loden; W: Barbara Loden; C: Nicholas T. Proferes.