“The Forest” is a movie about Sara Price (Natalie Dormer) as she explores Aokigahara Forest in Japan in search for her missing twin sister. Photo by Gramercy Pictures.
By ASHLEY LAWRENCE – Staff Writer
“The Forest,” a horror film starring Natalie Dormer, incredibly disrespects an existing Japanese suicide site for cheap jump scares.
“The Forest” is a movie about Sara Price (Natalie Dormer), who travels to Japan and explores Aokigahara Forest, dubbed the Suicide Forest, in search of her missing twin.
The plot of the film is incredibly unfulfilling and the story itself is very rushed, with the protagonist traveling to Japan within the first two minutes of the film. It also has a profound lack of anything scary, instead including a number of jump scares that were, for the most part, predictable. Above all, however, the worst part about this movie is the disrespect surrounding the film’s setting.
The Aokigahara Forest is a dense forest located at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan. It is known to be one of the most popular suicide spots in the world, so much to the point where a sign was placed beside the entrance, urging the suicidal to reconsider and to contact help.
Suicide is often referred to as a national epidemic in Japan, as the country has a suicide rate roughly 60% higher than the global average. The reason for this is often considered to be the loss of ikigai, or purpose in life. Ikigai is often considered to be one’s hobbies, career and/or family. Therefore, loss of that purpose can be devastating.
Japan also values conformity and has a lot of stigma surrounding mental illness. As a result of this, those who stick out tend to be alienated or bullied, and may feel they have no one to talk to. This leads to people viewing suicide as their only way out.
The Aokigahara Forest is a place where a lot of these people go to end their lives. It is not a scary place. It is tragic.
Instead of using this opportunity to address the issue and cast an Asian protagonist, “The Forest” was made as a horror film with a white actress that both romanticizes suicide and demonizes suicide victims.
Besides being culturally insensitive, the movie itself was simply not enjoyable. The pacing is awkward, and the story is predictable and uninteresting. It appears to be all over the place, jumping from one scene to another, ultimately erasing any aspect that could be remotely unnerving. On Rotten Tomatoes, “The Forest” was rated as 14 percent the day it was released, which decreased to 11 percent within four days.
“The Forest” makes light of the Aokigahara Forest and dehumanizes its victims for the sake of a horror movie, without actual horror elements, thereby painting a false and detrimental image to its western viewers. The film is dull, made in poor taste and is not suitable for viewers who want an enjoyable and gratifying horror movie.
