SUNKEN LAND
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Mangrum’s story–about a couple destroyed by a society where abortion is illegal and rape victims are kidnapped by the government and forced to have the babies of their attackers–reminded me less of visionary works like Huxley’s Brave New World and Orwell’s 1984 than of television movies of the 70s, when supposed conspiracies and futuristic societies were in vogue. Laura is raped in her home by a government agent, taken to a mysterious hospital, and imprisoned there until doctors can determine whether she’s conceived. She becomes the roommate of another rape victim, the bound and gagged Camille, who has been resisting the brainwashing commercials they’re shown, in which bland-voiced women testify that they too were once afraid to have children but have now seen the light. Between the scenes in which Laura and Camille bond (at warp speed) events occur that add up to a story, but lacking full characterizations it’s not worth watching. An amoral nurse and orderly switch Laura’s and Camille’s medical records to make life easier for themselves; a zealous Mormon couple, Alma and Hyrum, plot to murder abortionists; and Laura’s husband, Brad, knocks on bureaucratic doors in search of his missing wife.
Mangrum doesn’t stir much sympathy for the separated couple, in part because he doesn’t give them a scene together but mostly because he hasn’t bothered to establish who they are, individually or as a couple. When Laura calls out for her “husband” and Brad demands to know where his “wife” is, the terms sound generic, empty of meaning to them and us. Alma and Hyrum, with their repressed sexuality, are cliched religious zealots, but at least we know what motivates them. They firmly believe that they’re doing God’s work, and Alma in particular is a plausible character, explaining to Laura, “Tragedy is not in death, but the denial of life.” Though Marc, the government agent/rapist who fairly oozes malice, isn’t meant to be a sympathetic character, he is potentially interesting. He seems to be acting on his own sadistic and greedy behalf as much as for the government; but rather than explore the possible intrigue of a renegade agent, Mangrum uses Marc mostly as a stock bully.
