The Surrogate

This film raises tough questions and moral dilemmas and I love it for that and for so much more.

For starters, Jasmine Batchelor is impeccable in this film, she truly commands the emotional labour of being a pregnant m/c black woman who is morally and socially conscious and sensitive to catering to other people's needs and comfortabilities. Throughout the development of the film and her own character, Jess learns to be less accommodating of privileged able bodied people's comfortabilities and spaces and to open up the discussion for the advocation, support and enrichment of educating oneself more towards disabilities and disabled people's perspectives and lives, learning how and why they deserve to be treated as equals, no matter how chromosomes may differ or what preconceived limitations the majority of society may place upon them.

Metaphorically speaking, Jess guides us through her own journey as if we are being shaped in her own womb as learners and empaths in her appreciation for her own child and others who live with deficiencies. She does not have an idealistic ideology or mindset that parenthood is easily manageable and controllable, in fact she acknowledges that parenthood is inescapably difficult several times across the span of her journey and it makes her even more palatable as a character.

The tensions in the film are brilliantly conveyed, the intersectionality of being black and middle class v upper class v working class, is essentially communicated and the complicated nature of relationships are realistically portrayed and explored. And even with its final shot, it tugs you at your heart strings on how calming contraceptive experiences can be as well as complex, strenuous and difficult.

Jasmine Batchelor and Brooke Bloom were exquisite. Their silence spoke volumes. This film is beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. I have to admit, I didn't expect to agree with Jess but I really empathized with her and admired her ability to embrace the uncertainties of parenthood. Being good humans can be so hard....but we should still keep trying. Also, I think the lack of music and unnatural sounds in the background intensified the drama. I loved it because I got to decide how to feel and process my own feelings instead of being directed. This film will stay with me for a long, long time.

Incredible acting and direction. The drama is so well played that you feel like you are sitting in the room with the actors. The ethical dilemmas are uncovered with such eloquence and finesse that when the film ends you need some minutes to process in silence.

So incredibly Boring. I kept waiting for it to pick up even just a hair and it never did. Very monotone movie. And if that isn't a thing then this movie made it one.

A bold little project which skilfully and realistically addresses the tough issues of mental and physical illnesses in the unborn, the morality of abortion, as well as the trials, tribulations and dilemmas faced by those seeking to do a good deed by agreeing to the role of a surrogate mother.

While the movie still inevitably channels the ideological undertones of the 2020s social justice movement, it does so without resorting to the so often seen preachy and idealized styles of other similarly themed works.

An example of this innovative take on long-standing social issues can be seen in the fact that the would-be surrogate mother is not providing her services out of financial necessity (being an Ivy League college graduate with a successful career in New York City, as well as the daughter of an Ivy League dean), but rather out of a genuine altruistic will to help a same-sex couple start a family. In another example of the movie's daring style, the same-sex couple which was initially optimistic about the prospect of parenthood, later on begins to be portrayed as playing a rarely seen villainous and morally questionable role. Namely, while most movies tend to present same-sex would-be parents as almost infallible - as devoid of any superficial mindsets or selfish qualities, The Surrogate gives a refreshing dose of emotional and moral depth to such couples, by showing that they are only human too.