What is The Devil Wears Prada? Sentimental fodder about an aspiring writer finding herself? An aquiesance to the brutality and shallowness of the fashion industry? A meditation on power's allure and corruptibility? Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) graduates from a midwestern college and leaves for the big city. After many rejections from more "serious" journalistic endeavors, she happens into a job "a million girls would kill for": being the second assistant to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), editor-in-chief of powerhouse fashion magazine Runway. Streep steals the show. She is quiet and terrifying. Her power isn't fought for, it is taken for granted, earned. And anyone who dares question her or her role in the world is summarily silenced with her cool, soft diction. While the film never addresses the moral problems it presents, it is a compelling depiction of a moth drawn to a flame, and we leave feeling that we understand both the moth and the flame and how they have transformed each other.
