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Chapter 3:
Women Talking
February 1, 2023
We want to think.
We want to talk.
We want our children to be safe.
We want to be steadfast to our faith.
We want more...
This year's Oscar nominations were announced last Tuesday, January 24, 2023. While I am not a film student, my undergraduate experience in film school still made me pay close attention to the Oscars as one of my new habits. Of all the Best Picture nominees, there was one film that caught my eye right away and led me to the theater after class, and it was Women Talking.
As the feminist movement continues to grow, it is thrilling to notice an increasing number of films and artworks that put the spotlight on women and the challenges they have faced over the centuries. Women Talking is not only the 19th Best Picture Nominees directed by Women in Oscar’s 95-year-old history but also a film with an almost all-female cast and a story focused solely on women. As the film title suggests, the story revolves around a conversation between several women. Regardless of the fact that the film is based on a real story that took place in Bolivia, it is still set in a fictional community where women have no access to education but need to do strenuous manual labor, while men continually sneak into women's and girls' rooms at night to drug and rape them. Women were told they were being attacked by demons and ghosts, and it wasn't until several girls caught one of the men in the act that they found out the truth. After that, some of the men were sent to jail in the town and the rest also left to earn bail money, leaving the women in the colony to decide whether to stay, fight, or leave.
In history, we have witnessed the ups and downs of many human rights revolutions, and the common reason for the failure of movements is the lack of a unified goal, which demands clear internal communication. The eight women of the colony gather together at a hayloft and discuss the pros and cons of each option. Each of them is at a different age and has had different experiences, which have shaped them into eight distinct characteristics. While such different perspectives usually make it hard for them to reach agreements on opinions, the looming threat caused them to put aside their differences and make decisions as a collective group –– leave. In reality, however, people are often more eager to convince others or to belittle opinions that differ from theirs, than to understand their thoughts and experiences, which usually further widens the gap between them, making it challenging to act on the same page.
When responding to a perceived threat, people usually either fight or flee, but for the women in the colony, fighting wasn't the smartest move, and despite the film saying "a horse might meet an angry dog," they still choose to leave. However, are there any differences between “flee” and “leave”?
Nietje (left top), Mariche (left center), Salome (top center), Autje (bottom center), Ona (right center), and Agata (right top) gather at the hayloft to decide whether to leave or stay.
(https://ew.com/movies/movie-reviews/women-talking-sarah-polley-rooney-mara-claire-foy-jessie-buckley/)
In my understanding, leaving is more like a personal choice after thorough consideration, while fleeing is usually without thinking, and it is more like an act of putting the individual in an inferior situation. Were women in the colony fear of men? No, they weren’t. They just want to think, read, and write; they want to focus, they want to love; they want to be steadfast in their faith, and make sure that their children can be safe. Faced with the possibility of leaving the colony and not being able to go to heaven after death, these women hesitated but made a decision because forgiving rapists seemed the greater threat.
I was surprised when noticing that there weren't any specific scenes of sexual violence against women, but only a few seconds showing the traumatic aftermath women experienced. The only two grown men the audience can see are the truck driver and August, the recorder and listener of the conversation, whose mother was excommunicated from the colony for leading other women in questioning the structure. You might wonder why there is no rapist's face? As a film focusing on women's reflection, it may not want to criticize any individual but hopes that all people could reflect more on the influence of social structure, just like one of the lines suggests, "The attack is possible because of the circumstances of the colony.” The film does not intend to set men and women against each other but indicates what it wants men to be like through the shaping of August.
August (left), Ona (center), and Salome (right) sit together, thinking about the future.
(https://www.ign.com/articles/women-talking-review)
Without dramatic story and plot, the film is more like a powerful and emotional manifesto of women. It fully explained that how to deal with the relationship with men is a private matter within women by creating a feminist utopia. The lasting applause after the screening immediately brought me back to the real world. In reality, we cannot leave this world, nor can we eliminate those with privilege, then what should we do in response to the oppression and trauma brought by patriarchy?
Probably like the ending of the narration says: Our stories will be different from theirs, and we will eventually find a way with hope and faith.
Agata (left) consoled Salome (right) about her experience and expressed support for her decision.
(https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/22/movies/women-talking-review.html)
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