'Widows': Ten times better than Ocean's 8

Steve McQueen has worked his way up to become film royalty with hard-hitting, pictorial films like Hunger and 12 Years a Slave. Now he is treating us to an excellent genre film: Widows.

Her husband has passed away, but Victoria (Viola Davis) has no time to mourn. A criminal kingpin with political ambitions wants the millions back that her husband apparently stole. Whinging is not her thing, so she plans a daring robbery and calls in the help of the widows of her husband’s dead colleagues. They are all happy to help because they too are in trouble thanks to their husbands.

We had already seen a female heist film this year – Ocean’s 8 – but Widows is ten times better. The ensemble cast does not disappoint. There are too many good actors to list them all, but Viola Davis deserves a special mention because your heart breaks when she momentarily shows that Victoria’s tough exterior masks a deep sadness.

Director Steve McQueen holds his own when filming exploding delivery vans and exciting car chases. Given the visual power of his cinema, it is no surprise that Widows has great cinematography. The twisting plot that he wrote with author Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl, Sharp Objects) is not any more spectacular than your average heist movie, but because the characters, the locations, the motives, and the situations are so convincing, you get more for your money.

The content of Widows also outclasses the competition with sincere interest in its political and sociological setting. Corrupt clerics, the crime economy, racist old white people who cling to power, the blurry distinction between criminal politicians and politically ambitious criminals: the film touches on all these themes and they don’t exactly put you in a good mood.

Nevertheless, this sombre crime film does have one ray of hope. The men resign themselves to social determinism, but the widows refuse to be paralyzed by their difficult circumstances. “We have a lot of work to do. Crying isn’t on the list!”, Viola Davis declares. The widows show us the way.