In the final act of Sarah Polley’s WOMEN TALKING, one of the gathered women articulates what it is the women of this patriarchal community want. One might suspect the list would be (rightfully) lengthy – but it is summed up as three simple things.

I will not detail what three things are demanded, lest I lessen the impact of their delivery.

What I will say is that they are powerful, succinct, human, and warm. What one comes away feeling after hearing these requests made aloud isn’t just the weight they hold as human rights, but also the way so many atrocities can be prevented if these three requests are seen as self evident.

Like those three requests, WOMEN TALKING is powerful, succinct, human, and warm. It is also a master class in filmmaking from a storyteller who always seems to hold a master class whenever she turns her camera on.

The story is that of a Mennonite community where the women continue to be sexually abused. Having finally reached a breaking point, the women gather to decide on one of three courses of action; stay and do nothing, stay and fight, or leave the colony altogether. When the last two get the most votes, a long conversation needs to be had by the elder women in the community over which will be the ultimate decision.

Polley films WOMEN TALKING with a threadbare palette, Her hope is that it will be received as an artifact, so-much-so that it cuts to black saying “Your story will be different than ours”.

The story is not an artifact (yet). Its themes and ideas are as bright and shiny as a new smartphone. The men of this community have subjected the women of this story to the same abuses, discrimination, disrespect as the men of modern society do. Truly, its themes could be ripped from modern headlines.

There is much to take away from WOMEN TALKING, which we will another day. For now though, what might stand out the most is the fact that this story wants us to remember that it is not enough to act. One must decide to what end ones actions must go, and even have tough conversations with people who likewise believe in action.

Doing so, in the words of one of the characters, requires looking much further down the road…around the bends and above the rise, all while keeping a steady pace forward to a better place.