"Straw" Review: An American Psychological Crime Drama - A Tyler Perry's Film

Straw is an American psychological crime drama, released this year and directed by Tyler Perry. It is about a single mom - 'Janiyah' (Taraji P. Henson), who is faced with a series of unfortunate events on the same day.

First, she is faced with a demeaning landlord who threatens to throw her out of the apartment if she doesn't pay her two months' rent, but eventually, her stuff were thrown out as she couldn't pay as promised. Second, she has an eight-year-old daughter, Aria suffering from seizures, who has not been well taken care of and sometimes won't eat before going to school.

Janiyah promised the school administrator that she would pay her daughter's lunch fee ($40) once she received her salary.

Then she is faced with a bully employer who had no iota of concern or understanding for her situation. She also got fired and the boss refused to pay her money.

It had been a bad day for her, especially when she was called from the school that Aria fell due to lack of nutrition. On getting there, she saw the Social Service Agencies (SSA) taking her daughter away from her to a foster home because they thought she couldn't take care of her. That devastated her.

She has two jobs but they were barely enough to feed her. She had no support anywhere except for her hustling and fighting for her survival and that of Aria.

This was a lot of pressure on her, particularly on the same day. At this point, one could feel her desperation as a strong mother. She left the school and drove back to the grocery store where she works so she could beg her boss to release her money even if she would get fired. As she was driving and lost in thought, she collided with an off-duty officer who, in turn,, bashed into he,r, running over her and causing a nuisance.

She got stopped by a female officer who issued some tickets to her. She begged but they couldn't help her. It got worse when the off-duty officer made a threat that he would legally kill her. But at this point, her car, which was the only thing she had, was toyed to the station.

As she got to the store and went straight to the office, pleading with the boss to pay her, two thieves came in. It was the wrong time for Janiyah.

One of the thieves saw the name tag on her and mentioned her name. To her boss, it looked like Janiyah knew about it and had to set it up with them. But as the thieves were packing the money, Janiyah took advantage of the situation, dragging the bag from him but accidentally shot him.

At that point, the gun was in her hand. The other thief ran away and while the boss was trying to make calls informing the police of the robbery and murder, mentioning Janiyah's name, out of shock, she pulled the trigger and killed her boss. Making it two murders.

She ran away with a check on the table and went straight to the bank opposite the store to cash the money out so she could pay her daughter's lunch fee, get her back and move on with her life.

Getting to the cashier's table, she was denied of getting the cash because she had no identification card. She pleaded, and no one was ready to help her; then she pointed the gun to threaten her to give her what she wanted. At this point, the police were outside and had surrounded the bank.

Janiyah was now inside, with a gun and her daughter's backpack with a light beaming from inside and a few people who were now hostages, plus the branch manager, Nicole (Sherri Shepherd).

Nicole had already informed them about the situation and also mentioned that she had a bomb in her bag. Unknown to them, it was a science project her daughter invented, and it took a while for Janiyah to understand the worry on their faces, thinking it was a bomb.

Detective Raymond (Teyana Taylor) stepped in as a negotiator, wanting the release of the hostages and for Janiyah to surrender herself and come out. She refused to come out until the off-duty police officer who threatened to kill her was away. Janiyah narrated her story, her struggles and why she had to do what she did. Besides, she kept mentioning that she wasn't robbing the bank but only needed her money to settle her problems.

Will Janiyah surrender? Will the off-duty officer be detected? I don't want to give a spoiler alert and would want you to watch and enjoy.

Straw is an emotional movie with captivating storytelling. It reveals a single mom who was having a bad day just like everyone else and was hooked up in an accidental robbery.

There were lots of takeaways from this movie:

First is never to judge anyone. Everyone is going through a lot and it takes a person who can relate that will be able to understand the situation of a victim. I love Detective Raymond and her role - how she handles the negotiation excellently. It was easy for her to understand Janiyah because she knew what it meant to be raised by a single mom by her experience.

From the bank, one of the cashiers had to make it record the event live, and when Janiyah was narrating her story and her desperation to get her daughter back, everyone was now watching her online, and a lot of people felt emotional for her. They came together to protest for her release because they knew what it meant for someone going through a situation like hers.

The second thing I took from the movie is how trauma can affect the mind before it shows in action. Janiyah has been hallucinating about her daughter, Aria, who actually died the previous night, and it affected her perception, forcing her into drastic action, which was out of desperation and cumulative pressures.

The third thing is how, despite the whole situation, she found unexpected support from the branch manager who stood by and with her all through including the detective who assured her of her safety.

The fourth is that despite Janiyah's condition, she was able to constantly help a homeless man who would sit outside her apartment begging. When the police asked a few people about her, they gave positive reports about Janiyah and how she has been struggling to feed herself and her daughter.

This movie portrays how real suffering is lived daily, particularly for single mothers who have to take care of their kids all alone without support from relatives or anywhere.

I would rate this movie 9.5/10 because it evokes a feeling of deep empathy and one that pulls you into a raw reality of mental strain, motherhood and pressures from society, making you feel the tense moment Janiyah has to go through.

_{Source 1 | Source 2}