Provoked (English Version, 2007)

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Director : Jagmohan Mundhra
Main Casts: Aishwarya Rai,Miranda Richardson,
Naveen Andrews, Rebecca Pidgeon
Watched: 21st April, 2007. Saturday 7:35pm
Cinema: Cineleisure, The Curve (4: D7)

On a Saturday afternoon, with a heart that’s dully unsettling, I just felt the urge to stop thinking. Any of us who is familiar with this desire, knows that the next thing close to achieving that is like trying to make a hard-boiled egg hatch into a chick.

But lets consider the cliché, “If you are feeling down, think about something else.” I think we’ve achieved way beyond that when we became Homo Cinematicus. When Columbus-es of our time found the Neverland of ever-streaming life stories that never existed. And now, coming back to the cliché, not only can we think about something else, we can let somebody else do the thinking for us! (At a certain level)

After flipping and flopping between a number of titles on offer in Cineleisure, there I strolled into the black box, to be provoked…

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The General Mood

I chose the header picture (from scene), and I think it’s representative of Kiran’s character. I’d like to ask you to notice the pattern of light that’s shone on her face. You’ll see that only a narrow area of her eyes are being lit up, leaving a good amount of contrast between the rest of her face.

This story tells of a woman, who stands herself behind closed doors, barely making contact with the world with the small opening not almost the size of half her face; the hole from which she peeks through with much intimidation, and fear, with not a trace of sense of power to change anything.

The film will play for you what thrust her to the back of her high barricades. While in her need to help herself in the face of real, ferocious life wrecking nightmare, she faces her internal grapple that stops her from being the “free” person a “free” country promises her women.

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Engendering Character

30 minutes into the movie, Kiran remains a mysterious woman, uttering no more than 4 lines of fragmented English sentences to the questions asked.

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Because she was involved in a court trial concerning accusations of murder of her husband, her stubborn reticence, utter powerlessness and inevitable helpless display evoked a sense of impatience in me. It was a feeling close to wanting to reprimand her as a result of that judgment. Every options prompted to her was met with her going into major self-doubt, inability to decide and a strong reluctance to fend for herself. And the framing of the screen was such that almost all attention was garnered to sympathize with her emotional cage.

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Slowly and gradually along the storyline, bits of her abused past gets revealed through her own flashbacks. Heart wrenching events of severe verbal degrading trickles in, episodes of drunk beatings that left her completely aghast, and a thorough humiliation and destruction when her own husband raped her.

Such was the careful moulding of Kiran’s character. I thought it was very patient in connecting with its audience; empathy was not rushed at all.

Tied in with her social worker’s, prison mate and her own effort in pleading for a second trial, the transformation from being helpless and powerless to an open, cheerful, and reasonably bold self occurred a bit quickly towards the end. And of course their success in reducing the sentenced term signifies both an external and internal victory – of a breakthrough from deep personal strongholds, and of the new burst of meanings and hope for women in America who suffers unspeakable oppression and abuse in her family.

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Pertinent Issues

Punishment for murder in conditions of abuse, helplessness, arranged marriage, gender inequality, prison settings, sisterhood, generally feminist, power of court rule

Editorial Gestures

The simple dip-to-black transitions across scenes gives me an impression of a clean and straightforward storytelling. Much like a simple turn-of-page for its book equivalent.

Flashbacks are regularly called up to paint the journey that led her to where she was, often tagged onto an object she encounters in the “present” time.

Others

Language-Accent

If you lend your ears to the speaking styles of each character, you’ll begin to detect a pattern in their accent. The major ones are American-American, Indian-American, Indian-Indian. Of course the casts here speak in the English language like what you’re reading now. So, imagine seeing an American on screen, you can expect him/her to sound “American”. The ethnically Indian females including Kiran and her social helper Radha, speak English with a Punjabi accent (stronger explosion on the P’s, T’s, K’s… Punjabi-like intonation etc, etc). As for the Indian males, they would speak with an American accent.

I have a hunch that the director is intentional in doing this. Of all the characters (main or sides), only Indian females were shown speaking in Punjabi or English in Punjabi accent. All males carry American enunciation and intonation. Why?

I’m thinking in the feminist direction. Director probably wants “Indian Audience” or people who value ethnic identity to separate a special place for the women, therefore using this analogous tagging to mark for us the emotional differences. And perhaps, months after watching the movie, the elements remained outstanding in the audience’s minds will be the ideas, changes and transformation connected with the women.

Homosexuality
In general, what i'm hearing from public sounds as if gaism/lesbianism is beginning to settle in its own 'rightful' place. At least in legal terms, and more so on screen. Scriptwriter for 'Provoked', has some personal ideas on this topic too. The way director Jogmohan frames it is pretty straightforward. You'd notice that the prison big bully clutches another female prisoner close to her chest (bout 15 sec of screen time), and will later be commented by their inmantes as lesbian. While the closely knitted relationship of Kiran and her cell-mate Ronnie, that gets closer to (platonically) exposing part of their chests and with more hand touches, is framed as sisterhood. Seems to me it's director's way of saying, "Women, please find yourself a man." I am very glad the film didn't go the opposite way.

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Subjective Ratings:

Entertainment:

Enjoyed: o o o o x x
Laughed: o o x x x x
Cried: o o o x x x
Warm & Fuzzies: o o o o x x
Afterthoughts: o o o o x x

Cinematography:

Editorial inspiration: o o x x x x
Directorial inspiration: o o o x x x

Message:

Social: o o o o x x
Redemption: o o x x x x
Moral: o o o o x x
Commercial: x x x x x x

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Sharon Chong, published 23, April 2007
Cineleisure Damansara, Cathay MY
:o)