…stranger in my midst…

Listening to: “Desert Rose” – Sting (w/ Cheb Mami)

Reading: “Wolves of the Calla” by Stephen King

I have just finished watching another excellent movie (see poster on the left). It’s basically a “vigilante” story, but much, much more than that.

“There’s no going back to that other person..that other place. This thing..this stranger; she is all you are now.”

Radio announcer Erica Bain had a what I would call, “normal” life (you know she goes to work, pays her bills, meets with her hubby-to-be during lunch, walks the dog – that sort of thing). That is until she (along with the hubby) runs into three thugs during a supposed-to-be-peaceful evening in the Central Park (on a side note – I would not be caught dead walking in the Central Park- anyone who has read about it’s long and sometimes gruesome history – or any other park for that matter, especially on evenings, precisely because I might come out gutted, stiff and ready for the morning newspaper).

For no discernible reason (other than perhaps they are there or the a-holes have never learned to behave decently towards other human beings). The thugs proceed to assault Erica and her hubby (while filming it too). Erica survived, at least physically; but unfortunately the husband dies. It took quite sometime before she regains the courage to venture outside her apartment. That’s where things go “wrong”.

True to all victims of “trauma” (be it “mild” or “severe” – I’m not sure if a distinction should be made though – such as being raped, assaulted, bullied etc), you wish to go on as if nothing has happened, and foremost you try so hard to be the person you were before. Although of course, you are well aware that it’s not happening. Something has changed. It’s like living with a bloody ax permanently stuck at the back of your head (pardon the metaphor, it’s 01:00 in the morning). People who suffer trauma don’t “put it back together”, they simply turn into someone else (and sometimes that “someone” can be alien and terrifying).

Moving on. Erica knows what she is doing (playing judge, jury and executioner) is wrong. She is alternately repulsed and exhilarated by it. Luckily, she has Detective Mercer (played by Terrence Howard) to guide her conscience. They became friends through shared pain and feelings of powerlessness. The ending was a bit unbelievable, but the story was intense and overall satisfying.