365 days

(TW: mentions of sexual abuse, child slavery, and abduction)

I'd heard about the movie 365 days a lot throughout the past couple of months. The movie had been on Netflix's "Top 10 in the US" list for weeks and the "Top 10 in Movies" list for even longer. I hadn't heard much good, the only reason most people even watched the movie was to see the pornographic boat scene that seemed to arouse everyone. Other than that, I'd heard the acting was trash, the lines: cringeworthy, and the plotholes: irritating. While I do believe all of these downfalls apply, I believe they pale in comparison to the movie's biggest fault: the romanticization of abuse and abduction.

I'm a strong believer that people should be able to engage in whatever kinky experiences they'd like to, without judgment. However, that hand only extends as far as consent and prior discussion goes. 365 days completely disregarded concepts of healthy relationships and attempted to make toxicity "sexy." Rape and abusive culture have been normalized for far too long. It's essential that we normalize BDSM and unconventional fetishes, but in a safe way. We need to darken the line between kinky and predatory behavior. It's important that shows and movies that exemplify nonconformist fetishes highlight the importance of all parties coming to a mutual agreement prior to the sexual act occurring.

Consent and conversations are a requirement, not a recommendation.

In addition to romanticizing sexual abuse, the movie normalizes sexual abuse regarding minors. In the opening scene of the movie, mafia members are discussing child sex slavery. That speaks for itself. The first line is a gangster duo saying "We've got 20 refugees. All young girls. Feel free to keep one for yourself." They continue to negotiate, explaining how "some of them are barely 12." While the father of the "protagonist" rejects the offer, he does explain to his son how the men selling young girls "deserve respect." The intensity is brushed over, referring to the disgusting, vile monsters as simply assholes and continuing to converse about everyday subjects only seconds later. While it may be true that these degenerates gain respect from other powerful gangsters regardless of their lack of mortality, it's wrong for the movie to preach the mentality that they deserve any amount of respect. Being a rich criminal should not put you above any other criminal. If you sell human beings, young girls at that, you deserve to be treated accordingly to your crimes.

Sexually abusive tendencies presented themselves as early as 11 minutes into the movie. In one scene, the main character, Massimo, receives oral from a flight attendant. Massimo never asks for the flight attendant's consent nor does she seem interested in engaging in sexual relations with him. He simply follows her to the back of the jet, touches her without permission, makes her sit down, and puts his finger in her mouth. In my opinion, she doesn't look comfortable but rather pressured. She does unzip his pants but he is a major mafia boss and he clearly expected nothing less. He pushes her head, quite aggressively may I add, and you can hear her gagging and see tears coming from her eyes. When he climaxes, she walks to the bathroom, wiping her lips. It isn't uncommon for one to gag and cry while giving oral to a male and for some, it's a turn on. However, under the circumstances of this scene, it felt eerily wrong. She wasn't consulted on whether or not it was okay and even if she were, she wasn't in a predicament where she'd likely feel safe saying no.

The movie continued to reflect a lack of morality as it progressed. In fact, for some, like me, lots of empathy for Massimo was lost as the movie went on. In another scene, a fan favorite, Massimo has Laura, the girl he kidnapped, chained up to a bed. He points out how vulnerable she is in her position and how he "has access to every bit of" Laura's body. Throughout this scene, he continues to say things like "I'll do anything I want with you," and "At this moment, you're immobilized enough that you can't resist me anymore." After forcing her to watch him receive oral, he proceeds to lick up her leg without her consent, when in the preceding moments, he implied that he could rape her. Side note, she's chained onto a telescopic tube, which Massimo explains widens the more she moves. Are we just not going to talk about how extremely dangerous that is?

In addition to engaging in contemptuous behavior himself, we see Massimo justify assault. On the boat where the well-known sex scene occurs, Massimo tells Laura it was her fault that a man tried to rape her the night prior. He says he wouldn't have had to shoot the assaulter if Laura hadn't dressed "like a whore." After this, he chases her and continues to put his hands on her (causing her to fall off the boat) after she repeatedly tells him to stop. After that is when everyone's favorite "hot" little porno takes place. Wow, this guy just told her it was her fault that she was assaulted and harassed her himself but it's fine I guess because he saved her...are we forgetting he was the one who caused her to fall off the boat?

The main premise is Laura being kidnapped, which is problematic in itself. Throughout the first several days, she says things like "open the door, I want to leave," "get out," "I'm kindly asking you to let me the f*ck out," and tries to escape on various occasions. It's made undeniably clear that Laura doesn't want to be there. She wants nothing to do with Massimo. Also, despite saying "I won't do anything without your permission," he gropes her, holds her down, kisses, pushes, and chokes her on multiple occasions. In fact, he pushed her on the couch and felt her breasts as he made that promise. Not only did Massimo hold Laura captive against her will but there was also a multitude of incidents where he physically and sexually violated her, as stated above.

Many make the argument that Laura fell in love with Massimo throughout the course of the movie. However, what I saw as the movie went on was Laura apologizing more often for "being disobedient" or "not thinking." To me, it seemed more like Laura was falling victim to manipulation than falling in love. She began to feel guilty for trying to escape and for fighting against the captivity. Prior to the first time Massimo and Laura had sex, Laura apologized for being victimized by one of Massimo's businessmen. This obviously wasn't something she needed to be sorry for and at the beginning of the movie, she wouldn't have been. She started to feel pity for Massimo and attraction to him as she lost her hope, spirit, fight, and character. I think I'd refer to Laura's feelings as Stockholm syndrome and I believe it's more accurate to say what blossomed between them was endless exploitation of her vulnerability and deteriorating mental health rather than "love."

As a victim myself, this movie was so distressing. In a multitude of the scenes, I witnessed a reflection of my perpetrator's mentality shine through Massimo. The lack of consent provided before having the flight attendant perform oral sex on him for example. If my ex were to see that, he'd find tranquility in its normalization. He would have further reason to think what he did was okay. The movie demonstrates that behavior as not only acceptable but as "hot" so why would they expect any less from the audience but a desire to achieve that for themselves. Why wouldn't they expect the viewers to "take everything by force...especially if someone is taking away a pleasure you really desire" as the gorgeous, powerful leading role did? Massimo gets everything he wants, he's rich, attractive, and important. He almost seems even invincible. These are all traits most people desire, therefore the movie paints him out to be a person we should look up to, a role model. 365 days intends for people to aspire to be like Massimo. The intention is to make his methods seem valid... to make his mentality acceptable. I promise, people will look up to Massimo and they will genuinely think that what he does is more than okay, but arousing too.

On a lighter note, even if the movie didn't promote an abusive culture, it still induced cringe. Even with the alluring accent, lines like "do you want to touch it" and "are you lost, baby girl" made everyone scrunch their faces and frown. I think most people can agree that it's better when he keeps his pretty mouth shut.

Also, did anyone else notice that Massimo reached his orgasms in a record amount of time? I honestly thought it was a race most of the time when he came. However, there was one time when I thought he lasted for a good amount of time and that was the overrated boat scene. There was nothing over the top amazing about that scene. It was normal intercourse, most people who have actually had sex weren't that impressed. It's the virgins, despite their porn addictions, that found that scene so titillating. In reality, the sex seemed ordinary with some slightly overexaggerated motions.

Speaking of overexaggerated motions, Laura provided many examples of that. From falling off the boat to her tantrum on her way to the jet, it was genuinely funny to watch Laura sometimes.

Although the acting, plot, morals, and script weren't the best, there were some highlights to the movie...I just couldn't find them :p