Teenagers are horrible – we know it. They're a whirlwind of hormones, pheromones, acne, adolescence, mood swings and, frankly, bad taste. However, at least in most cases, teenagers are quite harmless; Most people I've met are too busy scrolling through TikTok at full volume to care about the issues of fame and physical beauty that preoccupied young people 20 years ago. (Unless you don't have a different colored Stanley Cup for each day of the school week, in which case you're basically just a microorganism in the eyes of the average teenager.)
But things were different in 1997. Popularity was determined by who had the new Biggie CD and whose parents had the most money. Growing up in the '90s was brutal, and that brutality – and all too familiar – is vividly demonstrated in Under the bridge, Hulu's new limited series premiering April 17. The show is based on author Rebecca Godfrey's 2005 retelling of the events, dramatizing the true story of a brutal crime that occurred In the fall of 1997, a crime captivated a sleepy Canadian province and sparked a Canadian firestorm. Media attention focuses on the teenagers at the center of it all. And even though there are two main adult actors, Riley Keough And Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone, is certainly intriguing as two grown women get caught up in the investigation, it's the teenage actors who run away with the series. They give the film a sense of unease and extreme, startling violence, which makes Under the bridge almost impossible to look away.
In November 1997, the body of 14-year-old Reena Virk (played by Vritika Gupta) was found on the shore of Gorge Inlet in Saanich, British Columbia. The chaos that ensued was unlike anything people in the greater Victoria, British Columbia area had ever witnessed before. “The story will haunt the island for years to come,” Rebecca Godfrey (Keough) says in voiceover during the premiere's opening moments. “It has forever changed a truth that once seemed immutable and fundamental: The young girls of Victoria we were supposed to protect, not be protected.” This sentiment initially seems melodramatic and paranoid, perhaps even a bit banal. But that seems intentional, as it mirrors the way Godfrey wrote firsthand accounts in her book, in which Godfrey details the time she visited Victoria as an adult. She returns to the city where she grew up to write a retrospective book about its distinctive youth culture. Little did Godfrey know that she would become entangled in a horrifying crime in progress.
Under the bridge changed some names related to Reena's murder as well as some of the story to make it a more dramatic adaptation. While some may find these edits objectionable—especially in light of Virk's murder reproduction national moral panic in Canada, which led to excessive coverage of bullying and aggression among teenage girls — which ultimately supported the show's larger thematic framework. Even though the bullying may not have happened like spread out in a conversation Just like a decade ago, any high school student could show you the source of the cruelty of their student body. This is just the way teenagers are. Not all of them are outstanding images of strong morality. Sometimes, children commit cruel and inhumane acts.
The series soars as it delves into the disturbing nuances of this type of teenage crime. Alternating between two timelines—before and after Reena's murder—we follow Reena's three attackers: Josephine Bell (Chloe Guidry) and two of her underlings, Dusty (Aiyana Goodfellow) and Kelly (Izzy G. ). The three of them met at Seven Oaks, a local foster home for young girls, where Kelly had moved after mending her relationship with her family. However, for Josephine and Dusty, things are not so simple. To cope with psychological trauma, they wear misplaced aggression on their sleeves. Acting tough, being violent, and challenging authority will get them what they want. They use the fear their behavior evokes as a currency; it is their cultural cachet to take them deeper into Victoria's world of spoiled youth and lost innocence.
Josephine (Chloe Guidry) and Dusty (Aiyana Goodfellow)
Darko Sikman/Hulu
One person who knows all about that hidden world—or at least, who thinks she knows—is Cam Bentland (Gladstone), a local police officer who followed in her father's footsteps and joined the force after graduation. high school. Cam is very familiar with the ways of Victoria's youth, having spent time at Seven Oaks as a teenager. Now, Cam has gone in another direction, becoming a member of the state-sponsored force that once controlled her life. Watching her character overcompensate for her troubled youth while facing growing distrust of the local police force is a compellingly acted piece. Furthermore, Cam has history with Rebecca, and their mutual involvement with Reena's murder creates an intriguing, if occasionally manufactured, dynamic between the show's two main characters.
Keough is supple and unpredictable as she tries to navigate the dark temptations of that relationship, while Gladstone remains as stoic and strong-willed as she was last fall. The manipulative killer. Even though Godfrey wrote the first part Under the bridge, her character occasionally takes a backseat, especially when she delves deeper into the lives of the teenagers she's studying. The series makes an effort to keep adult characters present while actively focusing on both Reena and Josephine, establishing that this is very much the story of both of their tragic and disturbing lives. Gupta is especially heartbreaking as Reena, whose life is filled with the instability and upheaval of adolescence. As one of the only Indian kids in school from a very religious family, Reena was subject to relentless and intense bullying. That is only compounded by the pressure to fit in with Josephine and her gang of henchmen, who call themselves the CMC (“Crip Mafia Cartel”). Watching her story unfold feels like looking down a black well of doom: If you look too far over the edge, there's no way out.
But it's Guidry's Josephine who dominates here, even edging out veteran powerhouses like Gladstone and Keough. Her performance is both startlingly realized and completely recognizable; Josephine has the unmistakable essence of every troubled teenager I went to high school with, the ones who always declared their mistakes as lawless victories. Guidry's sad performance was completely beyond her years. She evaluates each situation and the interaction is researched, calculated and executed with incredible precision. In all the years I've seen teenagers behaving badly on television, no one has scared me the way Guidry did in Under the bridge.
But not only that, she can command the screen of someone twice her age, or convey the presence of a teenage tormentor with such poignancy. Guidry's performance also demonstrates the innate knowledge of someone who has been torn apart by life – at such a young age and with no real guidance – that there is no other way out than to create the cruel violence she knew. Thankfully, Guidry is so talented that she can feel this feeling without trying to make Josephine sympathetic. Whether this person, who participated in terrible crimes, deserves any compassion is a choice that is up to the individual viewer. What matters is that this question is on the audience's mind throughout the film, and Guidry is such a talented young actor that the answer is never entirely clear.
Under the bridge boldly asks the audience to consider a broad picture of evil, one filled with radically different perspectives. As haunting as it often is and the giant hole it will leave in your stomach, it's a non-traditional approach to a true crime story that encourages radical interest and love. to. Maybe if the world started having more of it, depressing stories like this wouldn't need to be told.
