hmmmm, yesss. From the statistics I read that US females over 30 did not like this film. Whereas the younger audience especially in Europe was thrilled. Why would this be so? The film is about rape and about revenge and how the victim feels and into what kind of situation she gets put by her surroundings. Seeing how things are, the US are very ambivalent about sexual themes. Not to say 'hypocritical'. Judging from the themes feministic theory in the US put forward in the 70ies and 80ies sexual oppression and violence are very much more of a problem when they cannot be voiced at all. This may have been different in Europe with a more liberal approach in many countries (well, not all, I believe...). Anyway, this might explain, why a film like 'One Way' will not be received so open-heartedly in the US - it is painful. And it shows parents in their relationship to their children in a very painful way. Maybe this also explains the distaste of 'elderly women' (to phrase it this way without actually implying criticism).
This much for the background. The film itself is a treat in that it shows a comparatively new side of Til Schweiger as a 'real' actor besides the many comedian roles he has played - actually one of those bought him his ticket to the film world: 'Manta, Manta'. He played in some more serious films before: "The Ice Bear" (Der Eisbaer) and "Knocking on Heaven's Door", but even his last flick in 2006 "Where is Fred" (Wo ist Fred) was a comedy - not bad (and including some hilarious stunts by Christoph Maria Herbst and beautiful Anna Maria Lara) - but not really a revelation. Also the film puts him in context with many other good actors, especially Lauren Lee Smith. For a while Schweiger has been directing and/or producing his own films - maybe because this was the way of getting a job at all? I hope not - rather do I hope that he will some time tread in the footsteps of Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford etc.
I will leave the comments to the film itself to the other two I have seen posted. Just this: it is a dark film, giving rise to hope, nevertheless. And it does show many things to make people thoughtful - and I do hope this makes them like the film rather than dislike (which would be the far more easy thing to do).
