Whew. Yawl. If there was ever a movie that kept you guessing what was really going on, it’s Level 16. We see these girls learning all four virtues of womanhood: obedience, cleanliness, patience, and humility. It truly gives off a teen handmaid’s tale vibe!
In order to be a “clean girl” they take “vitamins” to keep them healthy, take special care of their skin, and get punished if they act in a manner that is not “womanly”. The girls believe they are being groomed for adoption by wealthy families however, there is a much more sinister plan underway.
Let’s get into the “The Vestalis Academy.” The academy is worse than a prison: no windows, the girls are secluded in their halls until they level up, they have chores almost all day and get to watch the same movie. Miss Brixil, is the headmistress keeping the girls in line. You can tell the girls look up to her and want to please her so they tell on each other if one is being “unclean”. That’s what happens to Sophia who is taken away from our main character Vivien and her group of girls when they are still young. They are reunited when they move up to Rose Hall and that’s where our story truly begins.
It takes several attempts from Sophia to get Vivien to listen to her as her old friend is guilt ridden by not helping her when she was deemed unclean and taken away. The other girls, particularly Rita, become suspicious of their time together and try to get in between the two girls. The message is finally delivered, don’t take the vitamins. And reluctantly, Vivien flushes her next dose down the toilet. We then find out that the girls aren’t taking vitamins at all…they’re sleeping pills that keep them asleep all night. At this point of the movie I had to pause because hunny, I want what they’re taking! These girls slept through the night much to their demise cause there is always a sleazy guard who takes things too far.
Anywho Vivien and Sophia try to figure out what is going on. Vivien while pretending to be sleep and Olivia are taken to room to be looked at by a family. This is where Vivien realizes they aren’t up for adoption at all..they are actually being sold to families. So at that moment I was like, ok that makes sense grooming child slaves – movies over. But no, it gets worse!
Now that Vivien knows that something is wrong she and Sophia try to find a way out and uncover the true purpose of why the girls are there. I’ll let you get into all the details of how Vivien ends up in the claustrophobic chamber and how she gets out and rescues Sophia from Red light torture and how they discover Olivia’s body with HER FACE CUT OFF! Yes they are up here FARMING GIRLS TO CUT THEIR FACES OFF AND TRANSPLANT THEM ON RICH FOLKS! “Synthetic Genome Therapy” is what they call it and when the girls find out they are devastated.
In the end Vivien and Sophia manage to get the girls out while they end up locked in an outdoor storeroom locked in from the inside. In a dramatic scene the doctor tried to persuade Vivien to come back to the facility but she knows he just wants her skin and cuts her face all up.
Yawl take my word for it, the expense and the parts that I left out this review are worthy of giving this movie a watch!
Key Takeaways:
Worth is not about what you look like on the outside
Take care of your skin so you don’t have to steal nobody else’s
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