I think to appreciate this film you have to also consider the time frame of which the film was released and the unique qualities it brought to attention at that time. For one thing there are not a lot of films out there that star African-American lead actor/actress between the year of 2000-13. In 2007, 19 (big-box office) films came out, that I can recall. *3 out the 19 films starred an African-American main character (besides Descent). They where Bucket List (with Morgan Freeman), I Am Legend (Will Smith), & 1408 (Samuel Jackson). Descent featured a female African American lead; Rosario Dawnson. While most films focused on male driven story-lines, Descent focused on a women's perspective, focusing on her unfolding after trauma.Descent focuses on Maya's day to day life, never explaining or commenting on the events, rather instead, letting the viewer feel it's passing scene for what it is. You find out that Maya is a shy college girl. A telling moment is given right off the bat in the first scene. Maya is shopping for some groceries and you hear girls chit-chatting about 'boy drama'. One of the girls ask her what she thinks and her subtle response says so much about herself. (Note: Rosario is a terrific actress, she knows how to emote and express herself without words. Through her body language you can really sense who her character is.) Unlike the the leader of the girl pack openly express herself verbally with attitude about her drama, whilst Maya is wordless and reserved. Fast forward to Maya interactions with Jared. Maya holds her own on their date together, whilst Jared is doing his best to be charming to win her over. You can totally sense the momentum of both actors playing off of each other. For me, I could already sense the mismatch and chaotic rhythm coming from (Chad Faud character) Jared. Because its been a long time since Maya has been on a date and her mother wants her to date again, for her part she wants to see this date through & go smoothly, asking engaging questions. If having not seen the previews you'd think this was a typical self-reflective Rom-drama, you'd see in the 90's. But as the date moves forward to Jared's apartment, that's when things turn sour. Maya is lured into Jared's apartment basement and is forced to the ground by Jared. As he rapes her, he whispers racial and sexist slurs into her ear. The aftermath leaves Maya quietly shaken, spiraling into depression. As the healing process begins, Maya through her actions shows us how she re-identifies with who she is as a human being, a woman, and a person of color who survived rape. In the process, she doesn't become her prior shy self, instead in reclaiming her womanhood, sexuality, confidence, you get the sense that she embodies her presence of self more strongly. She starts a relationship with a DJ name Adrian and through their romance/friendship, Maya learns the thrills of social dominance/assertiveness. Becoming this alter self as a means of strength, like the rape/revenge classics of the 70's, you get the same mechanics in Descent. It's builds into Maya seeking revenge on Jared for what he has done to her in an unexpected, bone-chilling, finale that involves Maya luring Jared to her apartment, with a surprised guest (Adrian). As the moral goes, "An eye for an eye...", a rape for a rape, Maya succeeds on her revenge. This is suppose to absolve her of her pain, shame, guilt, losing her sense of self... but you can see through Rosario's performance, Maya will never fully undo the harm caused by Jared. And by Maya exacting the same act unto Jared, unlike him, the action doesn't make her feel more powerful or necessarily more in control, instead there is remorse.It was refreshing for me as a viewer to see this story told by dark skin toned woman. The media is saturated with one type of woman, Caucasian woman, to be the portrayal of all woman kind and we need more diverse representations for all of us. Having this story told in the perspective of African-American woman, brought topics of race on top of sexism. Having your attacker dominate and degrade you for not just your sex, but also the color of your skin, is an added layer of assault. The scenes following the rape, you can really feel for Maya and see yourself in her position. "Who am I?" "What about me, made him seek me out?" You can see yourself painstakingly examining every aspect of yourself, your skin, body, mind, and spirit. You feel sick and doubt your self worth/power. The lost of identity/self value and the steps one takes to reclaim it, is what this film is about. Talia Lugacy, the director, executes it superbly. The unfolding of the film is realistic, plausible, and disheartening. In reference to the time the film was released: This was before Scandal and Deception was on ABC. There wasn't many opportunities to see a strong female lead character performed by an ethnic woman television or in films that wasn't stereotyped or a parodied.In conclusion, I like how this film brings a wide range of topics up for discussion between friends, family, academic/work colleagues, anyone really, about rape. Who does it happen to? We are given the opportunity to not JUST theoretically understand rape can happen to anyone, BUT also SEE, that there ARE many different faces of a rape victims... What is the morally right thing to do after being rape? Can we judge what it is and impose that decision to others?*Films were: No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood,Bucket List, Knocked Up, The Assassination of Jesse James, 28 Weeks, Transformers, The Bourne Ultimatum, Eastern Promises, Lars and the Real Girl, Ratatouille, Super Bad, Gone Baby Gone, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End...

Descent (2007) BOMB (out of 4)Lame and painful "drama" about a bright, young college girl (Rosario Dawson) who is raped by her date (Chad Faust) and soon finds herself at sex clubs doing cocaine and taking home various men. Since the rape her life is spinning out of control but she soon bumps into her rapist and decides to turn the table on him. I normally don't watch extras on a DVD unless it's a movie I enjoy or one I'm interested in but this horrid film had me curious so I checked out a few interviews with Dawson and her friend, director Lugacy. It's clear both women thought they were making something that "needed to be done" and something very important but it appears neither one had seen the film. I say that as a joke as I'm sure both had seen the film but this is a complete disaster from start to finish and in the end I couldn't help but find myself bored out of my mind. Lugacy must be a fan of Kubrick because she has dialogue and scenes that just go on and on and on. Clearly she wants these long scenes to draw the viewer in but let's face it, she's no Kubrick. These scenes are so mind-blowing awful that I couldn't help but want to hit the fast-forward button. The dialogue is poorly written and not once does any of it make you want to think. The incredibly bad sequences inside the sex club just go on forever and at the end of the scenes nothing has happened. We get bad sequences of Dawson standing in front of a mirror talking to herself or her involved in sex scenes yet she's fully dressed. The movie has the atmosphere of an exploitation movie but it never crosses into that territory until the final ten-minutes when the actual revenge takes place. I won't ruin the ending but it has an interesting twist that just doesn't work because by the time it comes most viewers, myself included, will either be sleeping, have turned the film off or simply won't care. The ending also doesn't work like it should just because the direction isn't strong enough to make it work. Dawson is someone I like but she's not very good here but a lot of this can be blamed on the screenplay. This is certainly trying to be a character study but her character never grows and instead of learning anything about her we just see her enter various stages but without any emotion behind them. The film received an NC-17 rating but I'd question this as there's not any nudity until the end and there's really very little profanity. The rape of Dawson is very tame so I'm guessing the MPAA once again struck the rating because of the male nudity that happens at the end. I've read other negative reviews saying you have to at least give the film credit for being brave but I'd disagree with that. I didn't find this film brave at all as the dark subject matter is hardly looked at and not once did I believe anything I was seeing. There might be a good story or idea here but everything is carried out so poorly that nothing works and in the end this movie started to get on my nerves by the fifteen-minute mark. Torture is something used in this film but the main victim is the viewer.

This is a sandwich film. There is something on both ends, but the middle is a disappointment. So, what you get is a 15-20 minute film that lasts over a hundred. This is particularly painful as the lighting was atrocious, and the sound was weak.Maya (the lovely Rosario Dawson) is date-raped and descends into a sort of depressive state that leads to alcohol and drugs. That's the whole middle of the film where she ends up moody and club hopping until she decides to get her life together and go back to graduate school. It is there as a teaching assistant, that she confronts the rapist (Chad Faust) again, and, it appears, that she is going to resume the relationship like nothing ever happened.Surprise! She has something else in mind. She enlists the aid of Marcus Patrick to get her revenge. The setup is sweet, but the actual revenge borders on pornographic. Just as the rape was brutal, so was the ending.No, despite two sex scenes, you see nothing of Rosario.

First of all, the leading lady, Rosario Dawson, is just about the coldest thing to see in a movie. Blank expressions all the way through. Absolutely no compassion for her. The scenes were so dark and the dialog so inaudible it became gruesome to watch. Brian Priest (interesting last name)and director Talia Lugacy (lunacy) wrote this boring trite. If this is Tribeca stuff, I'm glad I stayed away. Chad Faust, in full frontal nudity, ain't bad looking. His final scene with another dull actor, Marcus Patrik, was hard to take. First time I felt sorry for the villain. Was hoping Patrik got A.I.D.S. from his dirty deal. I think both Lugacy and Priest must be on some kinky trip with this trite. I found the subject matter done too often and encouraging others to take the law in their own hands. I also thought it too long in telling and really a boring movie to sit through. I had the DVD and fast through many scenes. I give it a 1 rating due to the looks of Chad Faust.