Actors add dimension to dystopian sci-fi

Despite limited funds, Winnipeg-raised filmmaker's work delivers solid genre thrills

Advertisement

Advertise with us

You can have it cheap, fast or good. Pick two.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/03/2019 (2746 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

You can have it cheap, fast or good. Pick two.

That’s the operating principle behind making movies, genre movies in particular. Lack of money doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t pull off a decent movie, given a reasonable amount of time to put it together.

That, perhaps, is why Danishka Esterhazy’s low-budget third feature, Level 16, is as impressive as it is. The Winnipeg-raised filmmaker had many years to work on the script because production companies were loath to commit to a feminine-centred work of dystopian science fiction (before the Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale proved it could and should be done). It just gave time for Esterhazy to craft a taut script that slowly and inexorably tightens its screws.

Level 16 is set in a grim institution called the Vestalis Academy, presumably a reference to the Vestal Virgins, priestesses of Vesta, homely goddess of the hearth.

The academy appears mainly to be in the business of religious indoctrination. The girls, dressed in drab uniforms, get daily instruction in the virtues of utter passivity: “A sweet girl is always humble and patient”; “a clean girl embodies sweetness.”

Suspiciously, each of the residents seems to be named for a female movie star of old: Veronica, Olivia, Rita, Hedy. Vivien (Katie Douglas) was once best friends with near-sighted Sophia (Celina Martin) until an incident in which Vivien was punished for standing up for her friend.

After a few years of separation, they are reunited upon reaching Level 16, which supposedly will see them graduating and being adopted by a loving family appreciative of the sweetness of a Vestalis grad. That’s the story, anyway.

Level 16, written and directed by Danishka Esterhazy, stars Sara Canning (right) as headmistress of a grim girls' academy and was filmost entirely on a single interior set. (Raven Banner photos)
Level 16, written and directed by Danishka Esterhazy, stars Sara Canning (right) as headmistress of a grim girls' academy and was filmost entirely on a single interior set. (Raven Banner photos)

But in the intervening years, Sophia has wised up to the sinister nature of the academy, despite the relentless indoctrination of their domineering headmistress, Miss Brixel (Sara Canning, also seen in Esterhazy’s Black Field).

When Vivien takes Sophia’s advice and surreptitiously disposes of her daily dose of “vitamins,” she stays conscious enough to realize the supposedly altruistic mission of the Vestalis Academy is in fact quite fiendish, notwithstanding the charitable claims of the male administrator Dr. Miro (Peter Outerbridge).

Like other Canuck genre offerings, notably Vincenzo Natali’s 1997 thriller Cube, the film could be brought in on a lower budget because it’s almost entirely filmed on a single interior set. Level 16 has the added advantage of not boasting Cube’s high-tech trappings.

It’s potentially off-putting that the film is stuck in this drab institution for its entirety; imagine for a moment if Jane Eyre never left the orphanage. Esterhazy overcomes that particular issue with a solid central performance by Douglas, who seethes most satisfactorily. Canning, too, adds a bit of unexpected dimension to a character who might otherwise fall into the clichés of the prison matron.

While Level 16 may lack the prestige of a Margaret Atwood adaptation such as The Handmaid’s Tale, it warrants equal consideration as a work of formidable feminist fury. On a budget.

The academy appears mainly to be in the business of religious indoctrination.
The academy appears mainly to be in the business of religious indoctrination.

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @FreepKing

Vestalis Academy is in fact quite fiendish, notwithstanding the charitable claims of the male administrator Dr. Miro (Peter Outerbridge).
Vestalis Academy is in fact quite fiendish, notwithstanding the charitable claims of the male administrator Dr. Miro (Peter Outerbridge).
Randall King

Randall King
Reporter

In a way, Randall King was born into the entertainment beat.

Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.

Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

‘Detrimental to the growth of female hockey in Manitoba’

Joshua Frey-Sam 7 minute read Preview

‘Detrimental to the growth of female hockey in Manitoba’

Joshua Frey-Sam 7 minute read Yesterday at 5:16 PM CDT

She lived the best of both worlds.

For the last three years, the 17-year-old wore a sweater for two different hockey programs — her high school team and AAA club in the Manitoba Female Hockey League — and was preparing to flourish in both colours again this winter.

Recently, however, the blue-liner was disappointed to learn she is no longer eligible to play her Grade 12 season with her school owing to a new policy imposed by Hockey Manitoba that bans players from participating in the Manitoba Women’s High School Hockey League if they are rostered on a U18 AAA team.

The rule applies to all athletes who play for both Winnipeg-based and rural AAA teams.

Read
Yesterday at 5:16 PM CDT

Confidence vote was gamble for MLA, Tories: political expert

Alex Lambert 5 minute read Preview

Confidence vote was gamble for MLA, Tories: political expert

Alex Lambert 5 minute read Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026

BRANDON — A Progressive Conservative MLA’s decision to put forward a confidence motion against the party’s former leader carries a lot of risk for her and the Tories, a political science expert says.

Obby Khan resigned as leader of the PCs on Monday after Jodie Byram (Agassiz) initiated a confidence vote against him the previous week.

The majority of the PC caucus voted in favour of Khan, but he resigned a few days later, citing continued efforts to undermine him by a minority of MLAs.

Brandon University political science Prof. Kelly Saunders said while she doesn’t know what Byram’s motivations were for triggering the vote, such a move carries a lot of risk.

Read
Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026

Community’s support sways judge in sentencing drunk driver who killed friend

Dean Pritchard 5 minute read Preview

Community’s support sways judge in sentencing drunk driver who killed friend

Dean Pritchard 5 minute read Friday, Oct. 7, 2022

Spinning “doughnuts” in his truck at high speed on the family farm was something Kyle Nolan Devos told police he “did for fun.”

Read
Friday, Oct. 7, 2022

U of W Collegiate students thank residential school survivors with the lessons they’ve learned

Maggie Macintosh 6 minute read Preview

U of W Collegiate students thank residential school survivors with the lessons they’ve learned

Maggie Macintosh 6 minute read Yesterday at 6:49 PM CDT

It’s become a back-to-school tradition for teachers to invite Indigenous elders to their classrooms to share first-hand accounts about the ongoing impacts of Canada’s residential school system.

This fall, the University of Winnipeg Collegiate was among the schools that sent an invitation — but its purpose wasn’t to educate students about the system’s horrors.

“Truth and Reconciliation week is so emotional and draining for residential school survivors,” said Christine M’Lot, a longtime instructor of the school’s Grade 9 truth and reconciliation course.

“I wanted to do something a little bit different and offer a thank you.”

Read
Yesterday at 6:49 PM CDT

Einarson gets world curling redo in Prince George

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview

Einarson gets world curling redo in Prince George

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Thursday, Mar. 17, 2022

Kerri Einarson and Prince George, B.C., are about to get a women's world curling championship do-over.

Einarson, third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard and lead Brianne Meilleur had just arrived in that city two years ago fresh off their first Canadian championship as a team and ready to curl for a world title.

The 2020 women's championship was among the early international sporting events engulfed by the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Canadians and the rest of the international teams quickly headed home when it was cancelled and the sporting world went dark.

Read
Thursday, Mar. 17, 2022

Educational drone survey of canopy targets sick trees

Maggie Macintosh 5 minute read Preview

Educational drone survey of canopy targets sick trees

Maggie Macintosh 5 minute read Monday, Jun. 13, 2022

Drones could help save Winnipeg’s elm trees from being tagged with a fatal orange mark, owing to the work of experienced pilots and their student assistants.

Throughout the 2021-22 school year, Volatus Aerospace Corp., a so-called “drone solution company,” has recruited high school students to take part in a research project that aims to streamline canopy surveillance in Winnipeg.

City employees typically survey trees for Dutch elm disease either on foot or by driving past them. It’s a laborious process — and by the time a human eye can spot wilting, curling or yellowing leaves, it may be too late to reverse the damage caused by the fungal infection.

In partnership with the City of Winnipeg, University of Winnipeg and Seven Oaks School Division, Volatus is using drone technology to try and speed up the diagnosis process.

Read
Monday, Jun. 13, 2022