Into the ForestWhen the comforts of society crumble into dust, all that remains is the trust we share with our loved ones. Into the Forest is a drama that takes place after a catastrophic power outage leaves civilization crippled. Two sisters--Nell (Ellen Page) and Eva (Evan Rachel Wood)--try to cope with deprived of the comforts of modern civilization, and faced with the subsequent perils that come with this dramatic paradigm shift. The two sisters struggle with grief and depression from loss after loss, discovering that they are each other's pillar of strength, raising one another up after each crisis.
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Into the Forest is set in a near future, evidenced by slight technological advancements that Nell and Eva take for granted, like augmented reality televisions and a voice-activated light system integrated into their cabin where they stay with their father (Callum Keith Rennie). Eva and Nell are not so technologically dependent that they fall into withdrawal when the power outage strikes, but they mourn the loss of their creature comforts as time passes. Into the Forest avoids providing definitive answers about "what happened", instead focusing on the girls' survival and relationship with one another. What little backstory there is of the girls' lives before the event is hinted at through a combination of home movies and the way that Eva and Nell interact with one another and their father. Nell and Eva are temporarily staying at their family cabin in the woods, and this is suggested to be related to their grief over the passing of their mother, who was a dancer like Eva. Nell is studiously preparing for the SATs, and has become involved with a local boy named Eli (Max Minghella). Nell and Eva's father is a patient man; he refrains from chastising his daughters, even when he learns that the battery to their Jeep died because Nell accidentally left the trunk open. Despite being a post-apocalyptic survival drama, Into the Forest is focused on the interplay between these two sisters, and how they keep each other alive, through arduous trials that test their resolve and intellect. Into the Forest is always focused on either Nell or Eva, with a significant amount of the film depicting the time they share with their dad. The foundations of civilization begin to erode a little more than a week after the outage. When the family returns to town for supplies, they discover that the shelves of the local store are gutted and a twitchy clerk named Stan (Michael Eklund) cradles a rifle under his arm. Following this, Nell and Eva's father declares that it is unsafe to return to town, despite Nell's frustration. Although Nell seems to be the emotional sister at first, after an accident deprives the girls of their father, and a couple of months pass without power, the roles reverse and it is Eva who struggles to find her focus in the absence of the familiar, namely being able to dance to her music. Nell and Eva continue the routines they had before the outage as a means of coping with the loss of electricity and their former lives; Nell studies for tests she will never take, and Eva performs her dances for no one, with only a metronome to guide her rhythm. These systematic behaviors recall one of Nell's SAT questions regarding the "fugue state" that people enter after some traumatic event that causes people to adopt a new "identity". Eli comments that in the months since the widespread loss of electricity, that their society has become like the lawless "Wild West", and implores Nell to travel across the country with him due to rumors that electricity has come back to the East Coast of the United States. Regardless whether there is any substance in Eli's rumor, it reveals that the United States has regressed to a frontier-like state of being, as though they had been transported more than a hundred years into the past.
With few exceptions, Into the Forest prefers exploring the psychological effects of Nell and Eva's experiences rather than focusing on the plausibility of their survival in this harsh new world. Nell finds strength in comforting her sister--cooking, hunting, and boarding up the house for protection. The two debate over the best use of their emergency ration of gasoline, one which causes a rift between them for a while, leading to Eva isolating herself in the sanctuary of her dance room. After Nell discovers a small cache of candy, she feels justified eating the sole piece of chocolate by herself, rationalizing that even though she called for Eva, she got no reply. This moment speaks to the kinds of unconscious power plays that siblings can engage in with one another. Eva warns Nell not to get pregnant with Eli due to the precariousness in birthing and raising a child without modern amenities. When Eva becomes pregnant, she convinces Nell that she wants to keep her baby because it represents something special and alive that she can hold onto after so much else has been taken from her. Nell forces herself to hunt a wild pig in the woods so that her sister remains healthy during her pregnancy, teaching herself how to butcher the meat and make soap from the fat with surprising aptitude. Nell and Eva are largely isolated from the world in their cabin, which becomes overrun with black mold at an alarming rate over the long span of time that they are there. The decay of the cabin is a metaphor for the vestigial longing the two girls have for their erstwhile civilization, which for all intents and purposes no longer exists anywhere but in their memories. They have come to rely on nature to provide for them, even discovering medicinal properties in the berries that grow nearby. The rot of their homestead compels them to abandon what little remains of their past. The phantoms of their former lives have become more of a curse than a blessing as they have matured into independent adults. Theirs is a revelation about what is truly necessary for survival when the shackles of materialism and the opiate of convenience has been purged from the soul.
Recommended for: Fans of a drama about two sisters struggling to support one another in the midst of a fundamental shift in their way of life. Into the Forest avoids most of the pitfalls of post-apocalyptic dramas by focusing on the intimate interactions and depth of feeling between Nell and Eva.
With few exceptions, Into the Forest prefers exploring the psychological effects of Nell and Eva's experiences rather than focusing on the plausibility of their survival in this harsh new world. Nell finds strength in comforting her sister--cooking, hunting, and boarding up the house for protection. The two debate over the best use of their emergency ration of gasoline, one which causes a rift between them for a while, leading to Eva isolating herself in the sanctuary of her dance room. After Nell discovers a small cache of candy, she feels justified eating the sole piece of chocolate by herself, rationalizing that even though she called for Eva, she got no reply. This moment speaks to the kinds of unconscious power plays that siblings can engage in with one another. Eva warns Nell not to get pregnant with Eli due to the precariousness in birthing and raising a child without modern amenities. When Eva becomes pregnant, she convinces Nell that she wants to keep her baby because it represents something special and alive that she can hold onto after so much else has been taken from her. Nell forces herself to hunt a wild pig in the woods so that her sister remains healthy during her pregnancy, teaching herself how to butcher the meat and make soap from the fat with surprising aptitude. Nell and Eva are largely isolated from the world in their cabin, which becomes overrun with black mold at an alarming rate over the long span of time that they are there. The decay of the cabin is a metaphor for the vestigial longing the two girls have for their erstwhile civilization, which for all intents and purposes no longer exists anywhere but in their memories. They have come to rely on nature to provide for them, even discovering medicinal properties in the berries that grow nearby. The rot of their homestead compels them to abandon what little remains of their past. The phantoms of their former lives have become more of a curse than a blessing as they have matured into independent adults. Theirs is a revelation about what is truly necessary for survival when the shackles of materialism and the opiate of convenience has been purged from the soul.
Recommended for: Fans of a drama about two sisters struggling to support one another in the midst of a fundamental shift in their way of life. Into the Forest avoids most of the pitfalls of post-apocalyptic dramas by focusing on the intimate interactions and depth of feeling between Nell and Eva.