Where Queen of Diamonds used stillness to create an isolating feeling under excess, The Bloody Child instead uses it to frame the repetitions and hypocrisy of men. Drawing inspiration from a true account of a marine found burying his dead wife in the middle of the desert, The Bloody Child offers us snapshots of the lives of the marine, his fellow soldiers, and a female officer moments scattered between individual moments of the discovered crime scene when he is taken into custody. These scenes, taking place in a bar, in a hotel room, etc. showcase the contradictions in how these men view women when women are assumed to be there for them versus when women are something to be protected and cherished insofar as what they represent. It’s not as straightforward as Queen of Diamonds or even Magdelena Viraga, with the pieces needing to be slowly connected bit by bit over time. The imperialistic nature of the armed forces is also critiqued as a masculine force but those segments somewhat muddle and confuse the message even if they are visually consistent with the rest of the film and just as haunting.
Where Queen of Diamonds used stillness to create an isolating feeling under excess, The Bloody Child instead uses it to frame the repetitions and hypocrisy of men. Drawing inspiration from a true account of a marine found burying his dead wife in the middle of the desert, The Bloody Child offers us snapshots of the lives of the marine, his fellow soldiers, and a female officer moments scattered between individual moments of the discovered crime scene when he is taken into custody. These scenes, taking place in a bar, in a hotel room, etc. showcase the contradictions in how these men view women when women are assumed to be there for them versus when women are something to be protected and cherished insofar as what they represent. It’s not as straightforward as Queen of Diamonds or even Magdelena Viraga, with the pieces needing to be slowly connected bit by bit over time. The imperialistic nature of the armed forces is also critiqued as a masculine force but those segments somewhat muddle and confuse the message even if they are visually consistent with the rest of the film and just as haunting.
