Reply

Posted by Reader (128.125.54.139) on November 15, 2006 at 19:59:01:

In Reply to: Reply: O I wish you could SEE Reader! posted by Lada Singh on November 15, 2006 at 07:23:53:

LADA: Per Chance, did you take a short nap during the movie? :)

READER: Must say I was tempted to…though my respect for the art form forced me to keep my eyes wide open. :)

LADA: Well, may be, but as I said, you are entitled to your opinion, which does not make my opinion wrong. I found all of it there. I think Sringaram is a bold movie that questions the issue of a woman's right to her life and how while still being surrounded by the conditions that the patriarchy forces on her, she carries the gut to scrape through all.

READER: Ironic, I think Sringaram is a bold *attempt*. It is important in that it tries to examine ideas of oppression and resistance. But it comes across as an unconvincing effort when it insists upon making goddesses of victims-victims who have said and done nothing in the first half of the movie to indicate that they possess the power to be the rebel in the second half of the movie. When Madhura refuses to comply with the Mirasu’s demands, and leaves the temple for the wilderness, it comes as a shock. The problem is not that she takes such a step. The problem is that her character in the movie is seen enjoying every bit of being the Mirasu’s flavor of the month. All of a sudden you see the meek temptress turn into a fiery revolutionary! Not that such a transformation is impossible! The abrupt nature of the transformation is frustrating.

Unfortunately, what we see is the kind of art house-gratifying folderol with flat characterizations that gets the kind of reviews you posted. Stuffing the movie with ponderous scenes, swoony love scenes, dancing and ornamentation makes it play like an unedited soap opera. The seriousness of the subject and it bases are both made light of in creating a timeless cliché of the victimized Indian woman.

LADA: If that is not being metaphorical, I really doubt if I have understood the meaning of metaphor.

READER: One is not claiming you have not understood a metaphor. Let's not enagge into such juvenile quibbles. Overwrought metaphors and exotic settings cannot excuse a dull storyline, cardboard characters talking in clichés, and poor acting.

LADA: Pl watch the movie again, but not with eyes wide shut!!!! Its a feminist movie and let's not even get into how it is, because if after knowing the Ramayana you ask who Sita is, then perhaps you haven't known who Rama was!

READER: It would help to keep the discussion going if you could perhaps reconsider the pedantic chiding! That being said, nothing in the world could make me watch the movie again! What takes the cake is that the victim-turned-revolutionary must always die in the end! Let’s kill the woman who dared to rebel! That sends a very powerful message. Get it? You are welcome to subscribe to this brand of *feminism*.