The Surrogate

Reviews

SWITCH.
While the film has a few hiccups, the package as a whole comes across as a truly moving experience that challenges the audience's morals with really thought-provoking dialogue. Along with Jasmine Batchelor's phenomenal performance, 'The Surrogate' is an important film that everyone should check out. - Chris dos Santos Read Chris' full article... https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-the-surrogate-raising-heavy-yet-important-questions

tmdb28039023
This movie put me in mind of a popular saying coined by Evelyn Beatrice Hall but widely misattributed to Voltaire: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” The problem, however, is not whether I agreed or disagreed with what the protagonist, Jess, has to say; the problem is that, if I were to defend what she says to the death, I’d be liable to find out, right as I’m about to shuffle off my mortal coil, that she just flip-flopped on me. Jess talks the talk – and she certainly talks a good game –, but when push comes to shove, she doesn’t walk the walk. That is, she talks business but doesn’t mean business, and when it’s time to put her money where her mouth is, she totally flakes out. So not only did I disagree with Jess, but found her, as a character, disagreeable because she doesn’t have convictions so much as she has opinions – or, to be more exact, she always has one and the same opinion, and that opinion is whatever stands in opposition to what everybody else thinks. In one word, Jess is a contrarian, and her agenda doesn’t revolve about doing what’s right but about proving the others wrong. That’s too bad because the movie touches on some very polarizing issues but ultimately lacks the courage to take a definite stance, and the cop-out ending takes what could have been a thought-provoking film and turns it into self-indulging, self-righteous fence riding.
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