There are countless movies about women, and the typical women in the movies are too many to count. Women is such a huge topic that I can only peer through a small incision. Among the movies I watched recently, the most noteworthy ones are "Mustang" and the documentary "River Girl: The Price of Forgiveness."
Two different genres, films and documentaries, Turkey and Pakistan. But the same religious beliefs and the same themes. In a society where men have the right to speak, what is the living state of women, and how should women awaken themselves?
Although the story of "Wild Horse" takes place in a remote village in Turkey, it should be a French-colored story about the eternal topic of freedom, democracy and fraternity. This is probably related to the director's experience. The female director is a Turk but received a Western-style education, living and studying in France. Given such a dual cultural background, the problems and perspectives the director sees may not be the same as ours, and may be more emotional and richer.
"Mustang" tells a romantic and hopeful story beneath cruelty. The five Turkish girls in the film are group portraits of Islamic girls of the moment. They are beautiful and at the same time infused with traditional doctrinal ethics and modern universal values. They are no longer rigid, conservative and ignorant like their ancestors. For example, the grandmother and Mrs. Pat in the movie, they are self-repressed and carefully follow traditional teachings. They are virtuous and sensible, and they have never thought of challenging the right of men to speak. The five sisters are different. They are like lights shining in the darkness of the Middle Ages. The light is very weak but has no tendency to diminish.
The five sisters all have beautiful long hair, and the combination of long hair and sunshine is a hint from the director. Hair is a symbol of femininity, and sunshine is a symbol of hope, full of French romance. The five sisters have their own distinctions. The eldest sister is a sexy and charming character. She is lucky to be with the person she likes. The second sister once said "I have slept with the whole world". This sentence is powerful, but it has no practical significance. The second sister ended up marrying a man she never knew in an arranged marriage. The third sister is my distressed character, she was sexually assaulted by the family. The addition of this element also shows the director's ambition. The director has covered a lot of topics throughout the film, and there are many social topics set up between each character and the characters. The third sister finally chose to commit suicide, which is the best relief under cruelty. The fourth sister is the most docile character among them. She is below the three older sisters. Compared with the fifth sister with her outstanding personality, she is extraordinarily ordinary. Wumei should be the most likeable character, and the acting skills of the young actors are amazing. She is like Prometheus the fire thief, the first person to eat crabs. The sisters all left, and she chose to flee. The theme of escape is romantic, and the director places the hope of female self-awakening on the youngest sister.
Gender inequalities and gender oppression have been carried on in the open and square by tradition. After all, "Wild Horse" is still a romantic movie. In the end, the fourth and fifth sisters successfully escaped and came to Istanbul, an international city spanning Europe and Asia, where women can dress sexy and discuss social opinions with men. . The handling of this scene in the movie is very beautiful. As the bus advances, the gray and uninteresting house gradually bids farewell to the field of vision. In the girl's dreamland, the sun spreads out, and the long flying hair and the sun together exude the smell of grass. It's the taste of freedom. Waking up from a dream is the eternal light of the city of Istanbul. But the reality is cruel after all. As a documentary, "Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness", from the perspective of another type of film, the true portrayal of women's status, especially grassroots women, is really uncomfortable.
In fact, the perspective of "Wild Horse" is still from the perspective of middle-class women to spy on the status of women. The documentary "Girls in the River: The Price of Forgiveness" chose to reflect the status of women in an Islamic country in a backward country in a conservative place as a bystander. Here, women are treated as second-class citizens. The right to speak is completely dominated by men. In the movie, the heroine privately entered into a marriage contract with the man in her heart while concealing her family, which angered her parents, and her father considered her a family shame. As a bystander, we can only watch calmly, unable to understand their ignorance, they not only devalue the status of women but also regard their children as their own private property. The level of sexism appears to be closely linked to poverty. In this film, my feeling is that the heroine's father is just under the guise of honor. What he cares about is that his daughter married a poor man, and the man did not bring any benefits to the family. Under poverty, there is a shortage of various resources, and the resources of women's comrades-in-arms will be greatly degraded. At the same time, marriage will be a means of obtaining economic benefits.
"The Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness", as the best documentary short at the Oscars, conveys a criticism of gender injustice, not just a criticism of individual behavior. Gender injustice is a persistent problem in society with complex causes. However, it will be a protracted battle to solve this problem. How to resolve the issue of gender injustice? Unfortunately these two films don't give us a better answer, and it's a good illustration that neither film addresses this question head-on, whether it's pure ideal romanticism or a cool reaction as a bystander. Addressing gender injustice is extremely tricky. Since the Industrial Revolution, the popularization of machines, especially the use of household appliances, has freed women from tedious housework. Coupled with the popularization of mass education after the Industrial Revolution, it has further stimulated the awakening of women's sense of independence. Women gradually appeared in all walks of life, women's voice continued to expand, and the ranks of feminists continued to grow. Behind this, hundreds of years have passed. In these difficult hundreds of years, the tide of gender equality is only in developed urban economies, and in remote mountainous areas, waiting for gender equality will still be a long road.
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