The most compelling part of "Blame" was the development of the role of Abigail, a student whose study of literature overwhelms her life when she begins to identify with the characters. She was apparently suspended from school for her embodiment of Sybil, which is not a good idea when the other students have only one personality. After transferring to another school, Abigail is consumed by the character of Laura Wingfield in Tennessee Williams's "The Glass Menagerie" to the degree that she has adopted Laura's limp.
Now, in Mr. Woods's drama class, the students will be putting on scenes from Arthur Miller's "The Crucible." The instructor does not hold conventional auditions, but assigns the role of Abigail to a student with the same name because he thinks that is nifty! This will lead to charges of favoritism and especially strong resentment when another student, Melissa, also wanted to play Abigail, but is relegated to the serving as understudy.
The actual classroom scenes, wherein the students were working on their characters, were deadly dull because they only seemed to be running lines. In a real rehearsal situation, they should be up on their feet and being coached by a director. Instead, the students were merely sitting around and looking over their scripts. Mr. Woods was continually at his desk, paying no attention to staging the play. It was also inconceivable that he would be acting in "The Crucible" with shirt and tie, while the other actors were garbed in Puritan costumes from the seventeenth century.
Melissa serves as the catalyst of the action as she attempts to take down both Abigail and Mr. Woods. Her devious plotting involves allegations of harassment and sexual misconduct on the part of Mr. Woods. Yet, the crucial scene in the principal's office where a police officer is asking her questions, demonstrated that Melissa's allegations were directed more towards her abusive stepfather than to Mr. Woods.
The filmmakers dropped the ball in the film's ending with too many unresolved issues. It made no sense that the impressionable Abigail, whose character in Miller's drama wanted to be Mrs. John Proctor, would settle for a kiss on the forehead and the gift of a coat from Mr. Woods. There was also an inherent dishonesty in the transformation of the villainess Melissa from her Gothic mode into the girl next door in the closing moments of the film.
Despite the compelling performance of the actress playing Abigail, the film had an amateur feel to it. Mr. Woods did a terrible job in casting "The Crucible": the inherent evil that defined the behavior of Melissa would have made for the perfect Abigail in his high school play production.
Now, in Mr. Woods's drama class, the students will be putting on scenes from Arthur Miller's "The Crucible." The instructor does not hold conventional auditions, but assigns the role of Abigail to a student with the same name because he thinks that is nifty! This will lead to charges of favoritism and especially strong resentment when another student, Melissa, also wanted to play Abigail, but is relegated to the serving as understudy.
The actual classroom scenes, wherein the students were working on their characters, were deadly dull because they only seemed to be running lines. In a real rehearsal situation, they should be up on their feet and being coached by a director. Instead, the students were merely sitting around and looking over their scripts. Mr. Woods was continually at his desk, paying no attention to staging the play. It was also inconceivable that he would be acting in "The Crucible" with shirt and tie, while the other actors were garbed in Puritan costumes from the seventeenth century.
Melissa serves as the catalyst of the action as she attempts to take down both Abigail and Mr. Woods. Her devious plotting involves allegations of harassment and sexual misconduct on the part of Mr. Woods. Yet, the crucial scene in the principal's office where a police officer is asking her questions, demonstrated that Melissa's allegations were directed more towards her abusive stepfather than to Mr. Woods.
The filmmakers dropped the ball in the film's ending with too many unresolved issues. It made no sense that the impressionable Abigail, whose character in Miller's drama wanted to be Mrs. John Proctor, would settle for a kiss on the forehead and the gift of a coat from Mr. Woods. There was also an inherent dishonesty in the transformation of the villainess Melissa from her Gothic mode into the girl next door in the closing moments of the film.
Despite the compelling performance of the actress playing Abigail, the film had an amateur feel to it. Mr. Woods did a terrible job in casting "The Crucible": the inherent evil that defined the behavior of Melissa would have made for the perfect Abigail in his high school play production.