Strip Down, Rise Up

This film was an interesting watch that tugged at the heart strings. Watching women unlock their bodies through sensual movement was so empowering. The back and forth with competitive pole dancers who do this art for sport and the beginner women who were learning S Factor for many different reasons was compelling. I was struck by HOW many women have suffered sexual abuse or trauma and the power that can be found allowing women to embody their full feminine without the male gaze. If women ever step into supporting one another the way the women in this film do, look out world. At the heart of this film are Evelyn and Megan, both unlocking their bodies that have been frozen for different reasons. I loved watching all the women in this whole movie supporting one another and lifting each other up.

An inspiring watch with lots of tears and some good laughs.

As a professional pole dancer myself, I found this boring, one sided (Jennyne Butterfly was the only sane and real person in this entire documentary) and purely "American" (drama and a lot of truly hard emotional stories but the way they directed it seemed to be just for the show and only for the viewer to FEEL something). The whole documentary was nothing but a commercial for the studio of Sheila. Waste of time , doesnt portray the real world of pole dancing by any means.

In understand that some may have issues with why the people here started their own journey into pole dancing. I understand that the theme throughout may feel or be a bit of a downer overall speaking. Of course there is the light at the end of the tunnel, that this helped a lot of people overcome judgement, fear and other social anxiety/norms and made them better or happier persons.

And that is what the documentary is about. It may not speak directly to you, but it shows what healing effect a bit of self love can have. And I am all about positive messages (even if I am also a cynic at heart - I balance those two things out). You don't have to love everyone involved here, you may not find everything beautiful that this movie delivers. But hopefully you at least can cheer on, with how some managed to put a spin on their life - and there is my daily dose of pun delivered! You're welcome.

I have watched a Chinese movie about a lost soul do this kind of dancing to find her own identity. That movie is so bad for the actress who act so it didn't bring me any interests about this "sport". But this documentary brings along many real examples for people participated, just makes me know the spirit of this sport. It's about believing yourself, don't be shame. Founder of S factor really catch the people weakness to make a success. Lesson learnt how to make a business.

Get ready for a lot of sobbing, and a lot of advertising Sheila's studio. Great stuff, everybody.