What remains so fascinating about the murder of Reena Virk in 1997 is that it opened people’s eyes to the evils that young women can do. Even worse, those who had participated in her murder came from such varied backgrounds. There’s always been Mean Girls even before Tina Fey brought the phrase to the American vernacular with her adaptation of Queen Bees and Wannabes, many generations had seen Mean Girls.
It happened in my hometown whenever a new girl was at the school, there was hostility toward her. I began to lose hearing in my right ear in my early teens, but one day I was sitting in a computer class when I overheard some of the teenage girls talking about someone who I thought was in their circle of friends. Yes, my friends and I kidded and joked with each other, but this was a type of cruelty often reserve for your enemies.
My late girlfriend was subject to the same when she started going there as does another younger woman who was in our drama class when her family moved there when she was in elementary school. Beautiful girls are often seen as competition to other women. But not to be chauvinistic, there was another type of cruelty that was extended to Reena, only 14. She was part of the Indo-Canadian demographic. Her parents had also raised her in a Jehovah’s Witness household. Even though she was born in Canada, she was still a minority of a minority of a minority.
The people she wanted to fit in with were obsessed with the rise of gang culture following the release of hip-hop/gangsta rap and “hood” movies in the 1990s. It seemed like that everywhere with people that age. I was 19 in college by Nov. 14, 1997, the day she was killed. But you could sense the younger teens were getting too much into the wannabe culture. It was even parodied by Seth Green in Can’t Hardly Wait. A lot of white people wanted to “be black” but they wanted to be “street” by their own terms.
The eight-part Hulu series Under the Bridge based on the true-crime novel by Rebecca Godfrey, portrayed here by Riley Keough, is set in the Saanich community of British Columbia, Canada. Even though most of the series is based on actual events, the character of Cam Bentland (Lily Gladstone) is added as a police officer who is involved in the investigation. Cam is an amalgam of law enforcement but she also lends an intriguing connection to the case. Cam has been adopted by the police chief, Roy Bentland (Matt Craven), who claims she was the victim of domestic child abuse when she was little. This is used to show the racism when Reena falsely accuses her father, Manjit (Ezra Faroque Khan) of domestic abuse, who the police initially suspect when Reena (Vritika Gupta) is found dead. (How many white people in this part of Canada probably whip their kids with belts and broom handles for not taking out the trash but criticize the Indo-Canadians or Indigenous people for the way “they treat their kids?”)
Even though it’s Canada, a country stereotypically known for having people who are nicer, the series tiptoes around the subtle racism of the people. Cam is also a childhood friend of Rebecca who has returned to the area from the big cities to research about the youth. There is tension between the two and also some sexual tension. I’m not really sure I agreed with a scene where Cam and Rebecca make out especially since the rest of the series only portrays them as conflicted friends. The real Godfrey had some involvement in the series especially the recommendation of casting Keough who has an uncanny resemblances to the writer during the real events. Godfrey died of cancer in October of 2022. She had a husband and a child. Because this happens earlier in the series, you think if they’re going to make out again.
But I think this goes to the difficult identities most of the people dealt with. If you look at Saanich on a map, it’s on the southern tip of Vancouver Island and probably just a ferry boat ride away from America. Yet, like most youth, the people were bored and wanted more. Reena hung out, or more or less tagged along, with other young women who wanted to move to the bigger cities, like New York City. However, most of them were juvenile delinquents who still had to make curfews at halfway houses.
The leader is Josephine Bell (Chloe Guidry), who is mostly based on the real life Nicole Cook. (Godfrey said there was a court-ordered publication ban of Cook’s name so she created the other name.) Josephine is typical of a lot of young delinquents. She’s mostly all bark and not much bite. She lived in a group home and seemed to constantly berate Reena even preventing her from joining their gang, CMC (Crips Mafia Cartel), but she doesn’t have the willpower to go through with her threats.
Prior to Reena’s murder, she had to get some other juvenile delinquents to meet up to chase Reena down and jump her. Apparently, Josephine is upset over Reena trash talking her and spreading rumors, mostly giving back what Josephine gave to her. However, Kelly Ellard (Izzy G) was willing to do what she thought needed to be done to impress Josephine. Kelly came from a privileged household but she hung out with Josephine and another delinquent, Dusty Pace (Aiyana Goodfellow), the only black person, who only seems to go along with Kelly and Josephine’s plans not to cause waves. It also speaks volumes about how the white girls viewed a black girl over an Indian girl. It could be Josephine and Kelly only had Dusty around because she was black and had a criminal record. Dusty is actually a fictional character and the only one who shows remorse and guilt for what happened. My guess is she’s a composite character of the real other teens Godfrey used in the book but it was cheaper to jumble them into one character.
Guidry really makes you hate her, but she also shows just how weak she is. There are Josephines in every community in the world. She thinks she’s the badass woman but you know she’ll either be in and out of trouble most of her life and/or knocked up by the time she’s 16-17. She also thinks it gives her some street cred, but she is no different than the countless number of youths out there like Bhad Bhabie or Woak Vicky. Guidry is only 16 and she manages to really turn in a performance to show what a complex person Josephine is. There are some photos of her on http://www.imdb.com when she was younger and she looks so cute and innocent. It’s a real testament to her abilities and even though I think the series sexualizes her. Here it’s necessary because Josephine is one of those “teases” who pushes too much without realizing the true danger she can get in.
Kelly seems to focus more as a sidekick to Josephine for much of the series, until they’re all arrested. And then you see how the socioeconomic divide works. Kelly works a way to get herself released awaiting trial and she tells Josephine that she shouldn’t have to go through with it because her parents are rich. It shows that who really used who to get what they want. In reality, Kelly was one of the people who really did kill Reena but the series focus on the special treatment Kelly received as opposed to the others.
There’s also Warren Glowatski played by Javon “Wanna” Walton. He’s the only boy who was charged in connection with Reena’s attack and murder. What’s crazy about his case is he didn’t know Reena and just joined in with the attack because others had chased her down to beat her up. Under the Bridge reminds me a lot of Larry Clark’s Bully, which was based on another true-crime case, the murder of Bobby Kent in southern Florida in the early 1990s. Both look at youth during the 1990s who acted tougher than they were. And like the murder of Reena, Kent’s murder was committed by people who didn’t even know him. It’s like a mob mentality. A few people do something and then others want to get involved.
Warren becomes associated with Rebecca who becomes a mama bear for him, even though she probably knows he’s guilty. Rebecca’s brother, Gabe, drowned when they were kids. It’s implied that Rebecca was too harsh on him as a child because he was interested in Cam. Therefore, after being insulted in front of Cam, Gabe committed suicide in the waters near their childhood home. Because drowning was also considered part of Reena’s murder, Rebecca sees the connection and bonds with Warren, who initially she thinks had nothing to do, but as they become closer, he tells her what he really did.
As for Gupta, she has the hardest job. She has to make us sympathize with her while at the same time feeling she just needs to relax. Her relationship with her mother, Suman (the wonderful Archie Panjabi) is something most teenage girls and mothers of teenage girls can identify with. Reena was struggling with fitting in which made it worse. And Suman’s devout Jehovah’s Witnesses beliefs must’ve made it worse. But the series doesn’t make Suman the bad person and Panjabi plays her as a loving mother who did her best but after Reena is dead, wonders if she did enough.
Just like Kelly, Reena was from a good family. They may not have been as privileged as Kelly’s but she had two loving parents as well as an uncle, Ray Masihajjar (Anoop Desai), who was more understanding and someone she could turn to. So why did all the people do bad things if they didn’t have all bad backgrounds? It’s more about how you’re viewed than how you really are. Warren is part of a gang (the Crips) but there mostly all white people who seem to do nothing more than drink, do drugs and commit petty crimes. I can tell you from my experience over the years, a lot of parents who provide very well for their kids sometimes have kids who always get in trouble. They’re always testing their limits and boundaries.
And it can be worse when those who don’t know their limits push it as far as they can.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 