‘Under the Bridge’ Review: A Haunting Portrayal of Rural Canada
Kaiya Shunyata
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True crime and its place within the cultural zeitgeist seems to be growing each year. From documentaries to fictionalized versions of events giving various streaming platforms incredibly high ratings, there’s no doubt the thriving genre is here to stay. However, each time a true crime is adapted for the screen, a question follows its release: why does this story need to be told? While It often feels like the people behind these products delude themselves into believing that they’re making these shows for the victims and their families, there are some that truly do feel like they’re being made to tell an important story.
One of the key aspects of doing justice to a story such as Hulu’s Under the Bridge is having people who were involved with the victims and their cases as advisors on the show. Thankfully, the late Rebecca Godfrey, whose non-fiction book of the same name is the main inspiration for the series, served as an executive producer before her untimely death. It makes for not only an authentic portrayal of Canada, its crimes, and its justice system, but one that is wholly empathetic to not only the teenage victim in this story but all the people who found themselves tied to this case.
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It is nearly impossible to grow up in Canada and not hear the name Reena Virk. Her case is examined in high school law classes, and her life imitates that of many of the country’s inhabitants. There are many Reenas in this country, ones who go on to live long lives and ones who unfortunately succumb to the loneliness and violence embedded in the soil of this land. Like many girls her age, Reena was at a crossroads in her life, attempting to fit in with the wrong crowd as a means to stifle the isolation she felt in her community as one of the only kids of color in the town. It sadly led to her untimely death, haunting the small town of Saanich, and all its inhabitants.
Under the Bridge begins with Rebecca Godfrey (Riley Keough) returning to her hometown in British Columbia to write a book about, as she calls them, “the misunderstood girls of Victoria.” Her story is juxtaposed with that of Reena Virk (Vritika Gupta) a young and rebellious teen girl whose death becomes the story Rebecca will eventually tell. Accompanying them is Cam Bentland (Lily Gladstone), a police officer who becomes obsessed with Reena’s case. The three of them all parallel each other in a way, generations of girls before them haunting not only the land they exist on but the blood and bones of every girl in the town as well.
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Under the Bridge does a fantastic job of setting up a certain kind of dread inherent to this setting. In one of the early episodes, it’s said that “we get a lot of missing kids out here,” proposing that in this town, Reena’s disappearance is not only common, but expected because of the crowd she hangs around. There’s Josephine (Chloe Guidry), a wild and unruly girl who commands the presence of those around her, and Dusty (Aiyana Goodfellow), a young Black girl who, like Reena, wants to fit in.
The two live at Seven Oaks, a group home for young girls and a breeding ground for a sick sense of pack mentality to unfurl. Their home life—or lack thereof—leads to a precarious life where at too young of an age they’re given free reign of their own little world where consequences don’t seem to exist until it’s too late. What comes of this is a danger that will ultimately find itself haunting each and every one of these characters forever.
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It’s a solid show from start to finish, but Under the Bridge balances on the precipice of greatness every time its two standout performers grace the screen. Lily Gladstone plays Cam, an Indigenous police officer adopted by the town’s white police chief, with a heaviness that is devastating to watch. She hosts a staggering amount of emotion within her eyes, and like her Oscar-nominated performance in last year’s Killers of the Flower Moon, it’s one that shines the most in the series’ quiet moments. Gladstone understands Cam’s connection to Reena, and the underlying forces that cause her to investigate this case with a fervent insistence. The two of them were both once children who felt like they didn’t belong in the community they grew up in, though their lives took strikingly different paths.
Alongside her is Javon Walton, who plays Warren Glowatski, a homeless youth who as the series goes on, becomes the emotional crux of the show. Each time he’s on screen you can’t help but wonder what’s going on inside his head, darting eyes moving along each scene with a starpower unlike many actors his age. He plays one of Canada’s most famous men with a staggering amount of empathy, though it’s fitting for a man who when he was granted day parole in 2010, hugged Reena Virk’s parents as he was released. Both characters hinge on a quietness that a story like this needs, and the show’s successes will undoubtedly be indebted to their performances.
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While shows like this can often feel cold or impersonal due to the way their plots unfold, even when Reena’s case isn’t directly being investigated, her ghost lurks beneath the surface of Under the Bridge’s narrative. What Godfrey’s book and this series are attempting to do is weave multiple tales together, and it does so expertly while forcing viewers to reckon with how terrifying teenage pain and boredom can be. It lays dormant for as long as it can before emotions come to a breaking point and there’s no taking these actions back. Under the Bridge is adamant about portraying this with the utmost sensitivity, which is almost unfounded in a genre like this. Each thread is expertly woven together to portray the cracks within not only Canada’s justice system but also the land that this system sits upon.
Summary
‘Under The Bridge’ expertly weaves together an authentic story about Canada, its justice system, and teenage boredom.
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