I was excited to watch “Never Let Go.” Halle Berry has been a favourite of mine since her performance in “Gothika” (which I highly recommend). Even better, not only was Berry starring in “Never Let Go,” but she’s also an executive producer of the psychological horror film. I’m always a fan of a female lead, and I believe a movie can be made stronger when women are directly involved in their creation—particularly when coming at it primarily from a female lens. And in my opinion, Berry has not lost her touch. Whilst it won’t be nominating it for film of the year, “Never Let Go” holds strength in its ability to explore in a raw, brutal sense, the complexities and detrimental effects of carrying unresolved parental trauma. My want to keep writing and reflecting on it has genuinely surprised me, and for that, I pay homage.
Berry plays a single mother who is raising her two young boys in a remote cabin in the woods (I’m sure we’ve all felt the urge at one time or another). Stripped entirely of her previous life, she now exists primarily for her sons, identifiable only through the name that they give her, ‘Moma.’ Moma, as we shall call her, has taught her boys Nolan (Percy Daggs IV) and Sam (Anthony B. Jenkins) that there’s an evil that lurks within the woods surrounding their home. To avoid being touched by said evil, they must always be tethered to a rope, of which they should never let go. Each time the boys come back to their cabin, they must repeat a mantra whilst touching and bowing to the sacred wood that continues to protect and shelter them.
Trauma and its Projections
From pretty much the get go, we’re led to believe Moma has—in a nutshell—lost her mind, and the ‘evil’ that she sees and fears is a representation of her declining mental state. And it doesn’t take a genius to work this out: she frequently sees a grotesque, snake like version of her mother—and at one point the father of her children—who both try to lure her away from the protective walls of her shelter, her sacred place of refuge.
It’s debated throughout the movie whether Moma’s fears are real and valid, or whether they’re a projection of a warped mind affected by past trauma. But when I think about it now, it doesn’t matter if it’s real or not. Trauma—and the evil we fear from trauma—is real to every one of us, if we let it be so. Moma fears being touched by evil that she has both faced—living in a modern society that corrupted her and left her as a single mother—and the evil she created, hiding a shadowy secret in her past that continues to haunt her. This trauma and fears are kept alive by Moma because she allows them to be so. Whether or not the evil in this film is real does not matter. It’s real to Moma; and in turn, it’s passed down—and therefore real—to her boys.
Percy Daggs IV and Anthony B. Jenkins are Superb
It’s no coincidence Moma’s own mother appears to her with a forked tongue, or that she has a snake tattooed on her back. Moma has seen and committed evil. Much like Adam and Eve confronting temptation in the Garden of Eden, Moma elected to give into temptations that opened her eyes to the horrors of the world and the image of the snake serves as a constant reminder of her ‘fall’. This is what she feels she must now protect her boys from, but in so doing, Moma herself becomes the trauma, the ‘evil’ that will live on within her own boys, if they let it.
And as we see, both boys battle with and are torn between the adoring, verging on unhealthy, unconditional love they feel for their mother, and the question of whether her behaviours, beliefs and essentially, her overprotective parenting style is safe and in their best interests. Whilst I won’t give away spoilers, I think some of the strongest points of this film is how it touches upon the idea of parental trauma, and how we can either choose to carry it or be stripped of it and start afresh. The two young actors in this film do an absolute superb job of portraying how these choices can define us and shape our futures either for the better or worse.
Horror with Food For Thought
Let me be straight. If you’re looking for a straight up horror, something that will keep you on your toes, terrify and shock you, “Never Let Go” may not be what you’re looking for. But—if like me—you’re a sucker for reading between the lines or can resonate with some of these themes and tropes, it might at least give you some food for thought.
