Director Paul Holbrook’s short drama Hollow introduces us to Laura (Laura Bayston), a woman grieving the death of her six-year-old daughter. Though we are not given the specifics behind the motive, we do know who killed Laura’s daughter and that he has been released from prison. Laura has lost her faith in God, but she still meets with her vicar (Karl Collins). She wants to take revenge on her daughter’s killer. The vicar advises Laura toward restraint; the killer will eventually meet God’s justice. The vicar’s advice serves as cold comfort for Laura. She is intent on achieving justice in this world.
Hollow deals with some universal themes. The struggle to maintain one’s faith after an overwhelming tragedy, the fine line between justice and revenge and how a person of faith deals with these notions, the temporary satisfaction one receives from an act of revenge, and the resurgence of racism in many parts of the West are somewhat effectively dramatized by Hollow. Where it severely fails is in the epilogue. The sequence of events in the epilogue, and the behavior of the characters in said sequence, test the limits of credulity.
The spiral of despair ends in either loss of the self or some sort of overcoming, a resolution to rebuild one’s life even if pain lingers in the background. Hollow’s way of dealing with this struggle involves a plot twist. Such serious subject matter deserves better.
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