Oleanna

Directed by DAVID MAMET

Starring WILLIAM H MACY DEBRA EISENSTADT DIEGO PINEDA

1994

Released 20 AUGUST

Blu-ray

This is a very welcome re-release of David Mamet’s utterly riveting screen. Now stay with me here, but the film comprises entirely of two characters talking in a single room, but the way it’s written, the way the words are intoned by the actors, and the delicately-handled staging techniques make this far more exciting than any effects-driven blockbuster. The film was written as a response to a decision made by the US Supreme Court in regard to adjudicating cases on sexual assault, specifically that the weight of the testimony should err towards the side of the (usually female) victim. The film opens with Carol (Debra Eisenstadt), dressed up in a oversized green army surplus jacket, haranguing her professor, John (William H Macy), in the hallway of an illustrious liberal arts college. She complains that he has given her a bad grade, and that maybe this is his fault for not teaching her properly. He retorts by suggesting it’s not his job to spew facts which are then regurgitated into essays – but to provoke and tease, to promote independent thought.