speak

Director: jessica sharzer

Actor: kristen stewart,elizabeth perkins,richard hagerman,allison siko

Data Published: Tue Jan 20 2004

Genres: Drama

Key Words: high school,teacher,depression,art,title directed by female

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0378793/

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speak_(film)

Description: Speak is a movie starring Kristen Stewart, Elizabeth Perkins, and Richard Hagerman. After a blurred trauma over the summer, Melinda enters high school a selective mute. Struggling with school, friends, and family, she tells the dark...

Plot: Fourteen-year-old Melinda Sordino begins her freshman year in high school and struggles on the first day. She doesn't have any friends to hang out with, and appears awkward and uncomfortable when speaking to others. Throughout the day, she is made fun of by several students, repeatedly called a "squealer". A series of flashbacks reveal that she called the police to a house party during the previous summer. Her actual reason for calling 9-1-1 was that she'd been raped by a senior student at the party, Andy Evans, but her trauma prevented her from reporting the rape over the telephone or when the police arrived. When her parents see her report card, they prompt Melinda to see a teacher nicknamed Mr. Neck, who tells her to write an essay on any history topic. After refusing to read her paper aloud to her class, she is sent to the principal's office. Melinda is nice to a new student named Heather Billings, who claims to be Melinda's "friend", but Heather soon abandons Melinda when the chance for social advancement arises. The only other student with whom Melinda has a positive experience is her lab partner, Dave Petrakis, who has successfully managed to avoid affiliating himself with a clique. The restoration of Melinda's confidence progresses at a painfully slow rate, with some help from Dave and her art teacher, Mr. Freeman. Her former best friend, Rachel Bruin, starts dating Andy, and Melinda fears that Rachel will suffer the same fate as her. Melinda meets Rachel at the library and tells her the truth about what happened at the party by writing it on paper. Rachel first refuses to believe, thinking that Melinda is lying out of jealousy, and calls her "sick", but comes to realize the truth by confronting Andy. Rachel then avoids Andy and tells other people of what happened at the party. Exposed as a rapist, Andy retaliates against Melinda, cornering her; he tries to force her to tell everybody at school that the incident is false and attempts to rape her again. Melinda struggles and irritates his eyes with turpentine, overpowers him after holding a shard of broken mirror to his neck, threatening to kill him. They are found by Melinda and Rachel's friend Nicole, who, along with other girls from her lacrosse team, help Melinda and trap Andy to prevent further attack. The altercation removes any doubt about what happened at the house party, and the girls who restrain him are outraged by it and tempted to beat him with their sticks. Mr. Neck sees Melinda walking away from the scene and asks what was going on, but Melinda doesn't respond. On the way back from the hospital after being treated for her injuries, Melinda rolls down the car window and breathes in deeply. She finally finds the strength to tell her mother, who already suspects something awful, the truth about what happened at the party. Although it becomes clear that Melinda will need time to fully recover from her ordeals, this is a significant and empowering event in her life, as she finally finds the courage to speak.