A teenager is harassed on a school bus.
BARRICADE is used with permission from Alice Johannessen. Learn more at https://alicejohannessen.co.uk.
On a school trip, Aleena is minding her business on the bus when one of the popular boys, Will, sits next to her. Instead of talking, he exposes himself, making Aleena unnerved and uncomfortable.
As it turns out, Will has a habit of making inappropriate overtures to many girls in his class. And when Aleena makes a chance connection with some of them, it's enough to bring them together and take a stand against Will and his friends.
Directed and written by Alice Johannessen, this resonant drama captures the power of community and connection as a force for healing. Told with a matter-of-factness and directness in the storytelling, it begins with Aleena on the bus, as she's harassed by a popular boy in her class. Humiliated, she is silent throughout the incident, and through much of the rest of the story. Will and his friends, on the other hand, are loud and boisterous, egging one another on in their bad behavior and perhaps relying on Aleena's silence and status as a school outcast to get away with what they've done.
Back at school, Aleena suffers in silence, watching as Will goes on to act inappropriately with other girls in the class. Some quietly tolerate it; others snap back at him. Aleena, on the other hand, has no allies to back her up, and even the teacher doesn't seem to notice what's happening almost right in front of her. Rendered with a visual style that's both naturalistic and dynamic in the camerawork and rhythm, the storytelling underscores Aleena's aloneness at her school, and how isolated many of the girls and cliques are from one another.
This attention to the overall ecosystem of the school pays off, though, as Aleena finds herself unexpectedly ushered into a larger community at school, thanks to a friendly classmate. The connection is simple, even primal, but it uplifts Aleena and connects her to joy and belonging. As Aleena, actor Zara Nisa portrays this moment of transformation with a wonderful mixture of abandon and subtlety. In these moments of both losing her self-consciousness and gaining a sense of belonging, Aleena finds herself empowered to take action against Will in a simple, direct way.
The conclusion of BARRICADE is powerful, not only because of Aleena's empowerment but also how a group comes together to work for a common goal. What works so well about the rousing ending is that it stays within the scale of these young women's lives. They may not be able to magically change an institution right away, but they can collectively recognize the problem in their midst and take simple, direct action against it -- together, as a group, working side by side with one another.