This is a documentary about S-Factor, which is a franchise that teaches sensual movement and pole dancing. I'm familiar with it because my girlfriend teaches at an S-Factor studio. So I sort of know what S-Factor is about and have a general understanding of some of the hostility towards the film.
The movie follows a beginner class taught by actress Sheila Kelley. It focusses on students who are looking not just for an interesting form of exercise (it takes a lot of strength to do pole tricks) but also to get in touch with their femininity/sexiness/whatnot. Many students have serious traumas and the movie shows them working through those traumas in pole dancing. They also spend time in what are essentially group therapy sessions, with Sheila pushing students to open up.
The movie also shows us some interesting people outside of the Sheila Kelley world who are more part of the competitive pole world.
The stories are genuinely touching. A recently-widowed middle-aged woman, a gymnast who was one of Larry Nassar's victims. We see women relaxing into movement, we see them tearing up, we see them processing their trauma as movement.
S-Factor and the movie have a message of pole dancing as empowerment, in which women take back the feminine power and sensuality men are co-opting or closing down. Some people find it ridiculous, but some find it very powerful.
SDRU is an entertaining movie, but the few user reviews here as I write this are mainly hostile. There seem to be a couple of reasons for that.
One complaint you see is it doesn't represent the world of pole dance accurately. This is probably true, but it's really not a movie about pole dancing in general. It's almost entirely focused on S-Factor, which is as much about "sensuous movement" (a bunch of crawling around in sexy clothes) as actual pole dancing. The appeal, as I understand it, is the way it creates a community of women of all ages/body types who go on a journey of exploration of their femininity together. My girlfriend's studio eschews mirrors so women don't get self conscious, so it's perhaps more of a "safe space" than some other pole studios. If you want to see a movie about athletic pole dancers perfecting tricks and competing, you will be disappointed, although it does have those and some of what the advanced pole dancers do is wildly impressive.
Also, not everyone is a fan of Kelley's pushing women to deal with trauma. She's not a therapist, and from what I hear, while some women pretty much worship her, others have found her approach upsetting.
None of this is dealt with in the movie, which focusses on the empowerment angle and the idea of rising up. It's not a deep exploration, which is why it's been accused of seeming a bit like an informercial.
It's not a movie I would have watched if not for my girlfriend, but I did quite enjoy it.
