{"id":30493,"date":"2023-02-24T11:05:01","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T10:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1788703"},"modified":"2023-02-24T13:24:12","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T12:24:12","slug":"is-women-talking-based-on-a-true-story","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/is-women-talking-based-on-a-true-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Women Talking based on a true story?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sarah Polley’s film is up for Best Picture at the Oscars. <\/p>

By Patrick Cremona\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 24 February 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

Writer-director Sarah Polley\u2019s adaptation of Miriam Toews\u2019s 2018 novel Women Talking<\/a> stars Frances McDormand, Rooney Mara, Claire Foy and Jessie Buckley as Mennonite women grappling with the aftermath of years of drugged sexual assaults.<\/span><\/p>\n

The women face a huge dilemma: stay within the community that has been drugging and raping them for several years, or leave and abandon their faith.<\/p>\n

The Oscar-nominated film<\/a> is an intelligent and nuanced look at a serious issue \u2013 and some viewers may be wondering if the film is based on a true story.<\/p>\n

The answer is fairly complicated so, without further ado, read on for everything you need to know.<\/p>

Is Women Talking based on a true story?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Ben Whishaw as August, Rooney Mara as Ona and Claire Foy as Salome in Women Talking.<\/span><\/figcaption> Orion Pictures\/Michael Gibson<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

While Women Talking<\/a> is not directly based on a true story, it is adapted from a novel of the same name that was inspired by real events.<\/p>\n

Toews \u2013 who was herself raised in a Mennonite colony in Manitoba \u2013 previously described her novel upon which the film is based as \u201ca reaction through fiction\u201d to real-life events which had occurred in Bolivia some years earlier.<\/p>\n

Between 2005 and 2009, the women living in the colony in the South American nation reported that they had regularly woken up to discover they had been raped in their sleep, with the men telling them this was the work of ghosts and demons as punishment for their sins.<\/p>\n

The women brought charges against the men and eight of them were convicted in 2011<\/a>, each receiving lengthy prison sentences.<\/p>\n