Film inspired by Pickton killings, Hwy of Tears screened tonight
Posted March 6, 2014 7:56 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A horror movie inspired by real-life terrors around the Lower Mainland and our region’s history of violence against women is being screened tonight in Vancouver.
But local filmmaker Karen Lam suggests “Evangeline,” which touches on the Pickton killings among other horrific acts, isn’t so much a sensationalization of events as an exploration of justice, inequality, and revenge.
The movie’s main character is stalked and abused by a series of men before exacting bloody revenge and Lam says the film reflects life in Vancouver.
“It’s the strangest place we live in — one of the most beautiful cities in the world and yet this beauty is actually butted up against some really atrocious human tragedy,” she tells News1130.
Lam, an admitted news junkie, believes the Pickton killings and the disappearances along the Highway of Tears in BC demand justice and the movie is a fantastical look at that, along with the moral and ethical dilemmas surrounding revenge and forgiveness.
“I don’t think you can live in Vancouver and not have all of these stories really touch you,” she explains. “All of those things get woven into my scripts.”
So does Lam’s anger; her work includes the theme that justice is not equal through the social strata.
“As a woman and reading all of these stories, [the movie] is my fantastical look at wanting justice. One of the ‘feel good’ plot lines in horror is the revenge fantasy and that is something that I question in ‘Evangeline.’ Does revenge make you more of a monster? How much do we turn the other cheek and how much do we let go? How important is forgiveness?”
Lam says she doesn’t have the answers but ‘Evangeline’ certainly suggests you can lose yourself following a path of anger and revenge.
“Even though it’s based on a lot of these true stories, I think the heart of it is the ethical and moral dilemmas of what revenge actually means. Is it worse?”
Evangeline kicks off the Vancouver International Women in Film Festival tonight. The four-day event includes screenings, workshops, and panel discussions.
