Text: Dots
I don't know why, but this year's excellent works on "feminism" are particularly numerous.
"Miss Bird" won the best picture in the musical/comedy category, and then "The Handmaid's Tale", which depicted the struggle of women in a male totalitarian society, received widespread public acclaim. And the "Lipstick Under My Burqa", which I want to introduce to you today, is also an excellent work for women.
Shortlisted for the 29th Tokyo International Film Festival, he was "sealed" by Indian radio and television because of his bold ideological theme.
Because of its overly bold voice of fighting for women.
The background is four women living in the same yard, between the ages of 20 and 50, evenly distributed in four paragraphs.
Rehana, who is about 20 years old, is a little girl who is passionate about life.
At the beginning, she was extremely skilled in stealing lipstick in the mall, carefully sipping it in the mirror, and when she appeared in front of the public, she was already a "modern girl" who did not belong to India's conservative society. Short shirts, jeans, big red lips, completely different from the old clothes that are wrapped up in the eyes at home.
A 30-year-old girl named Leela is a beautician who has made her career flourish.
Unlike the average group of women in Indian society who take their children to do housework all day long, she is wild and bold.
Will be sweet with the boyfriend to go out to take pictures, or creative cooperation with travel agencies, so as to get a romantic journey.
The 40-something is called Shirin, the epitome of all women in Indian society.
Because her husband does not have contraception, she already has 3 children in her 40s. And once in the rest of the time, once in the stream. The physiological condition is precarious.
And then there's the last 50-year-old widow, Usha, the leading figure in the whole yard, who is also a little bit of the most surprising character.
Her life was always serious and steady, living in harmony with the neighbors in the yard. On weekdays, no matter how noisy the child is, as long as he sees her, he must obediently shout "aunt".
But it is such a seemingly snarky and mean character who actually has feelings for the swimming coach who is a big round smaller than himself.
So, in her twilight, she still signed up for swimming lessons and watched him eagerly at every moment she could see the coach. Or sneak up on the coach with the name Rosy after finally unable to resist the surging emotions in his heart.
In those times of longing for a sense of identity, they say a lot of "big-scale" things.
Until the collapse of the matter, she ushered in the most "warlike" change in her life.
As for what the specific changes are, I will not mention it here, but give the opportunity to find the facts to the audience who wants to see it.
At the same time, from these four women with very different personalities, we can see all kinds of microcosm of the "patriarchal society".
For example, Rehana, who is passionate about life, although she dares to dress young and boldly at school, when she comes home to see her serious parents, she can't even dance a warm dance.
For example, Leela, who dares to love and dare to hate, although she and her boyfriend have a good relationship, she still can't get rid of the marriage of her parents and must marry a man who has only met once.
Despite her retaliation, she filmed a video of herself in bed with her boyfriend at the engagement party. But in the end, it is still a cruel ending that "hurts others and hurts oneself".
There's also the most surprising plot setting in the film.
Unfold the lives of the four women and tell them like a documentary. No exaggeration, no rendering, no sublimation, no idealized ending for them. What the society was like before, their lives will still be what they will be afterwards. No one thinks of "changing social perceptions" because of their "shocking" life experiences.
The four of them have experienced all kinds of stereotypes about women in Indian society. Unable to express themselves, they are eager to break the shackles of reality and have been working hard for it. Although the results were not so ideal, they understood that there are still different beings in life.
In the final shot, the four of them finally get together briefly. Read a book that is considered a "forbidden book" and admire the ending of the book that "the girl has finally found true love after all kinds of hardships".
In the gentle music, they seemed to be laughing, and they wanted to cry a little. Life is so hard, but fortunately, they can't take away the courage to dream. Perhaps, that would be enough.
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