The Nightingale (2018)
I think the main point of this very uncomfortable film is to show what happens when people have unchecked power over other people. How it leads to total lack of empathy and removes the ability to see other people as humans.
The evil portrayed here is completely unhinged. Multiple rapes, killings and murder of small children. It is unpleasant to know that the brutality and dehumanization on display here is likely pretty accurate to what happened, but the downside is that it also becomes so extreme that I as a viewer partly detaches from what I am seeing. I am reminded of how Spielberg had to tone down the brutality of Amon Göth for it to become believable. For me, the character of Lieutenant Hawkins is not really an interesting character, because he is so much a one-note depiction of pure evil.
What despite this does make the film is how the otherwise cold relationship between Clare and Billy develops during their hardships together, and I especially liked how the ending to a degree sidestepped the predictable revenge plot ending, but did something a bit different.
Rating: 3.5