Film Analysis Essay on "Enough"

Introduction

Domestic violence is any behavior where the batterer aims to gain control and power over girlfriend/boyfriend, intimate family member, spouse or partner. It is an issue that has become prevalent in today's society and especially in America (Bouffard & Zedaker, 2016). Various treatment measures have been tried with regards to the problem like, the self-defense that supposes murdering the batterer by the violated as portrayed in the movie "Enough." Speaking of the film "Enough" whose director is Michael Apted, the movie portrays domestic violence and its consequences. It depicts how women have been affected by domestic violence and how the issue has been dealt with based on moral perspectives and law. Below is the description of the movie through the plot which provides an overview of the whole issue.

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Plot Synopsis

The movie opens with Slim (Jennifer Lopez) a working-class waitress waged in a diner at Southern California. At the beginning of the film, Slim is seen as a charismatic and goal oriented, and in line with this, there is Mitch who happens to be her hero after protecting her from a customer who was directing obscene remarks to her. As a result, Slim and Mitch fall in love with each other and eventually marry (Enough, 2002).

Things seem to be going well for Slim and Mitch as they get a baby girl who is named Gracie. Mitch is portrayed as a powerful and rich man by the film; however, Mitch appears to be failing in some factors as the events unfold. After five years of marriage, Slim finds out about Mitch's infidelity who in turn apologizes but continues been unfaithful. Slim confronts Mitch about the issue for the second time, and this time he responds by slapping her and smacking her on the neck (Enough, 2002).

Slim is worried about Mitch's abusive behaviors, and she knows that the law won't be of great help to her. She, therefore, flees with her daughter Gracie with help from her friends and hopes to start a new life. Mitch responds by stopping her credit cards and freezing her accounts. Slim decides to flee and stay in a motel, but unfortunately, Mitch finds them, but Slim manages to escape. This continues in the film as Slim flees and Mitch who seems obsessive keeps stalking her and their daughter Gracie to know of their whereabouts to the extent of hiring henchmen to find Slim. Slim eventually seeks help and prepares herself physically and emotionally to learn self-defense. The film comes to an end as Slim decides to fight Mitch since she has had enough; she visits him in his new house ensuring that there is no weapon around. In the course of action, Mitch dies after falling two floors and landing on a glass table (Enough, 2002).

Types of Domestic Violence

The victim of domestic violence is Slim, and Mitch is her abuser. The two are husband and wife, and they have a daughter together by the name Gracie. At the beginning of the movie, Slim and Mitch appeared happy, and everything seemed to be going on well for them. Things change when Mitch becomes controlling and abusive to her wife after she confronts him about his infidelity and an act of violence is witnessed when Mitch responds to the confrontation by punching and slapping her (Enough, 2002).

Domestic violence is also witnessed in the movie when Mitch threatens Slim that he will kill her; this is a form of verbal abuse which Slim suffers from Mitch. He even tries to intimidate Slim with a gun when she decides to leave the house. There is a controlling form of abuse because Mitch wants Slim to tolerate his unfaithful behaviors, but he cannot tolerate it when Slim confronts him about it. Mitch uses male privileges as he intimidates her and degrades her when he tells her that he is the man of the house and the provider so he can do whatever he wants; so she should conform to whatever Mitch wants.

Slim suffers both physical abuses and emotional abuses from her husband ( Boxall, Rosevear, & Payne, 2015). The physical abuse can be witnessed when Mitch hits her by punching her neck and slapping her and leaves her with severe injuries, and he even gets her daughter involved in this abuse. Slim suffers emotional/mental abuse as a result of the injustices done to her by Slim who she considers her husband. There is also economic abuse where Mitch stops Slims credit cards and freezes her bank accounts making her not able to access money.

Impact of Domestic Violence on the Character

At the beginning of the movie, Slim is a happy person, but as the events unfold, domestic violence from Mitch has some impacts on her. She is affected emotionally and becomes fearful; she is afraid of going against her husband's wishes and appears paranoid. She tries to escape from Mitch's abusive behaviors, but at first, she is unable to. This makes her feel isolated and very depressed since she fears to tell the people close to her about her sufferings. The feeling that the law will not be of great help to her makes her feel lonely it's like she has no one to turn to; she, therefore, makes her decision to flee (Enough, 2002).

Mitch's actions of abusing Slim both physically and emotionally make her feel humiliated especially when he tells her that he is the man of the house and earns money so he can do whatever he wants. Slim is very affected by this violence such that he cannot get into a relationship with another person like her former boyfriend Joe, this is seen when she moves from Joe who seems to have some affection towards her. Slim could not remember how to live life like an average person due to the impacts of domestic violence. Slim keeps moving from place to place, and Mitch keeps following her. These massive responses from Slim are the aftermath of victimization from Mitch (Gregory, Feder, Taket, & Williamson, 2017).

Theoretical Explanations of Domestic Violence

Domestic violence in the film can be best explained through Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs perspective. According to the film, it can be seen that Slims needs and wants were fulfilled at the beginning of the movie by Mitch. These needs include self-esteem, love, safety, and physiological needs. Through meeting Slims needs, Mitch gains her trust. Systems perspective can best explain Mitch's action to gain trust from Slim because this perspective explains how individuals maintain power balance. It argues that the person with the most resources usually has total control over the others (Gregory et al., 2017). According to the film, Mitch has more resources as compared to Slim. He tells Slim that "I make money, I set the rules,"(Enough, 2002) and this explains why he expects Slim to follow his rules without question.

The film shows how organizational response subsystems and the family failed Slim. For instance when Slim seeks help from her mother in law who happens to be Mitch's mum, she never gets a helpful response, but instead, the mom asks her what she has done. This shows that Mitch's mother thinks that Slim had done something wrong and that's why she deserved to be abused which is a misconception. Slim refused to ask for support from other systems such as the police because she saw that the law would not be of great help to her. Slim did not want to ruin the relationship between her daughter and Mitch, and that is why she never reached the police for help with the issue (Enough, 2002).

Intervention and Treatment

Slim failed to reach for interventions several times during the beginning of the violence. I believe that if she considered going to the hospital after been beaten and contacting the police department for help, she could have been helped in one way or another. For instance, seeking treatment from the hospital would have helped her deal with the various impacts of violence like depression and fear which had affected her emotionally and also document the domestic violence issue. Similarly, going to the police might have helped her by taking action to help reduce the injustices she was facing from her husband, like issuing a restriction order. This would have given Slim time to identify which action to take next instead of running with her child from one place to another (Enough, 2002).

There is also a time when Slim tried to escape through the help from her loved one, but Mitch caught her and threatened her using a gun. If she had sought intervention from areas such as law enforcement units, these problems could be avoided in advance. Slim's decision to learn self-defense was not the proper intervention to take. This is because even though she was lucky to get out safe from the fight, not all people can use the same response and be safe, and many women end up dying at the hands of their abusive husbands or ex-partners because of such decisions of revenge.

There are some other safer interventions or strategies which Slim could have used. There are various treatment methods administered especially to victims of domestic violence; these treatments include the Domestic Violence Personalized Treatment Plan. This type of intervention takes an individual through different steps he or she can use to be ready and safe in case domestic violence occurs. According to Hackett, McWhirter, & Lesher,(2016) these steps are; safety when leaving, items to carry when moving, security at your residence, safety during a brutal incident, safety with a protection order, safety at the public and in the job, safety and emotional health, drug, and alcohol use.

The Personalized Safety Plan is a handy resource as mentioned above. It can be accessed via the National Domestic Violence Hotline; there is a "chat now" button for those who prefer chatting and a contact number in case a person wants to call. There is additional information at the website where individuals can learn how to deal with domestic violence with numbers and locations of how to access the information. It provides resources for the victims of domestic violence helping them feel that there are individuals who are willing to support them and they should not feel lonely (Hackett et al., 2016).

The problem-solving strategy is another effective intervention Slim should have sought. This strategy also follows some steps which guide the person on how to handle the issue. The problem is first identified, assessed, the goal is formulated, and then an effective strategy is selected. If Slim had considered this intervention, perhaps she could have reduced abuses from Mitch, instead of planning for revenge (Enough, 2002).

Other treatment intervention programs include intervention programs primarily for domestic violence victims. The victims are usually provided with various resources to help them in such situations. These programs help stop the domestic violence cycle. If Slim has considered using this type of intervention, she would have been helped to deal with the issue (Hackett et al., 2016)

References

Bouffard, L. A., & Zedaker, S. B. (2016). Are domestic violence offenders specialists? Answers from multiple analytic approaches. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 53(6), 788-813.Retrieved on 21st February 2019, from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022427816656897

Boxall, H., Rosevear, L., & Payne, J. (2015). Domestic violence typologies: What value to practicing?.Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, (494), 1.Retrieved on 21st February 2019 from https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=371117018965300;res=IELHSS

Enough (2002, October 8). In Show Times. Retrieved on 21st February 2019, from https://www.showtimes.com/movies/enough-2497/

Gregory, A., Feder, G., Taket, A., & Williamson, E. (2017). A qualitative study to explore the health and well-being impacts on adults providing informal support to female domestic violence survivors. BMJ open, 7(3), e014511.Retrieved on 21st February 2019 from https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/7/3/e0...