Based on real-life events, the raw and blunt Tape takes viewers into the grey world of the entertainment industry through the eyes of Rosa (Annarosa Mudd), an aspiring actress who carries a look of devastation within her eyes, and we will understand why.

In Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, the character Lavinia is silenced; she has her tongue and arms cut off after she is raped by two men. In homage to Lavinia, Rosa pierces her own tongue, cuts her own wrists, as well as shaves off her long hair, and then covers her pain with dark lipstick, a black beret, and shades, as if she’s ready to take on the world fearlessly.

Rosa places hidden cameras on her body as well as in a studio that belongs to a producer, Lux (Tarek Bishara). The blurry focus of Rosa’s hidden cameras captures various young actresses she encounters at a reality TV audition. She ends up following one actress in particular, Pearl (Isabelle Fuhrman), to the producer’s studio where Rosa’s cameras record the evidence of Pearl being manipulated into taking off her clothes and surrendering herself to Lux as he films a “screen test” but uses it as porn.

During the audition process, the audience witnesses the anxiety actresses experience while feeling that perhaps objectification overrules their talent. We experience utter confusion with Pearl as she is not expecting the desired outcome from Lux. Instead of offering her a part, he wants her to become his new “protégé” under his tutelage. We sense her painful decision to choose between walking out of Lux’s studio and moving on with her life or staying, which feels like life and death.

Rosa watches the secretly recorded tapes of Pearl and Lux on her iPad while hiding out behind the studio. As she’s watching, it’s as though her internal voice screams for her to run inside and save Pearl as she sees what is revealed in the tapes, which are the last pieces of evidence she needs to piece the horrifying truth together and expose it to the world.

The acting stirs rage and heartache and compassion for these women. When Rosa finally faces Lux and bellows a monologue from Titus Andronicus through tears and desperation, it is beautifully poignant. A film clip from Julie Taymor’s Titus (1999) features Lavinia with her tongue and hands cut off as the music score rises, and director Deborah Kampmeier cuts back to Rosa sitting outside Lux’s apartment waiting for the inevitable to happen for the truth to unfold: This is more than a Shakespearian tragedy, this is happening now.

Kampmeier has created a worldview of exposure that is impossible to ignore, and hopefully will inspire more people to speak out. When I was about 20, I walked away from a film project because I thought it was a scam after the director kept calling to talk about me and not the movie. This act of deceit and unprofessionalism discouraged me from entering the film industry again.

The #MeToo movement has helped fuel the bravery for those who have been sexually abused to come forward and put a stop to the fear that has oppressed them from speaking out, but it will not end there. Film is a universal influence and has an impact that is much different. That’s why Tape should be seen. It’s a story of unrecognized pain and unified triumph, and will have to be told again unless we accept the truth of characters like Rosa and Pearl.

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