What does one do in the aftermath of a brutal beating to nearly an inch of death? What does one do upon waking only to find out the person dearest to us did not? How does one deal with the emotional chaos bound to ensue?

Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) is riding such a rollercoaster, and what a ride it is. The Brave One is probably the most intense and best performance I have ever seen Foster deliver.

For some, being tough is easy, for others, showing struggle seem more natural. Foster has hard, defined facial traits –square jaws, straight nose, thin mouse. Her body is in no way delicate either. Small and petite it may be, yet strong and defined it is. The sweet stuff doesn’t cut it for her. I spoke recently about Foster’s narrow emotional range (see Flightplan) –this is a completely different actress. In The Brave One, Foster does come through, aptly demonstrating the evolution of her character’s ordeal. Terrence Howard is terrific as Mercer, the sympathetic detective who befriends her. He is a good balance to Foster, with a deep decency coming through.

Erica Bain walks the city collecting sounds and stories. Her voice is husky and sexy. The kind that makes male listeners envision a tall, cigarette smoking brunette, with lavishly long legs. She is a radio voice. She is engaged and happy. A moment later, her life is shattered and it’s all gone.

A fragile Erica attempts a return to being that voice, only things are different. She never understood people living in fear, she says, until now. She cannot be who she was before; that person died. A stranger is emerging in its place and she is struggling to understand what drives this person.

Unwilling to give in to fear, she finds a way to fight back. Killing comes easier every time. Erica is horrified and fascinated, watching a part of herself emerge she did not know could exist. She is powerless to turn back and rides deeper into the abyss of revenge.?

Erica is a good person, and bad things do happen to good people. That part of her wants to stop, wants to be caught, but the stranger within drives on. She evolves from self defense, to inviting dangerous situations, to finally consciously going out to kill. Is she justified? Is the pain she feels, the void that is now her life, the violence that countless women endure in this society, is this reason enough to enact revenge? To become judge and executioner

There was cheering in the audience following her last killing. I could not cheer. She took several lives in her battle to regain her own. Did these victims deserve a taste of their own medicine? Sure they did. Is society better off without them? Sure it is. Did they deserve being shot? That’s a harder one to answer. This movie explores the emotional aftermath of violence, fear, and survival; all riding that fine moral line of justified action while fighting back.

No, I did not cheer. I felt sadness for what Erica Bain had to go through and do to walk without fear once again. Credit to Foster for inhabiting Erica so thoroughly, for opening up her pain and making her emotional journey ours. There is no rejoicing in the end. This is not a “happy ending.” It is, on the other hand, the ending we wish for Erica, that she may walk the city again, that she may gather up what remains of her old life and make a new one.

This is the kind of role I want to see Foster in.

Best regards,

Christine