One of the most straightforward ways of understanding the roots and priorities of a regime is to look at how it treats women. It is not a chance occurrence that conservative governments seeking to cement and develop a patriarchal order regard outspoken women as a danger. This truth rarely comes into sharper focus than in the case of Sahra Mani, an Afghan director, and the filmmaker Jennifer Lawrence’s wartime documentary Bread & Roses, which explores Afghanistan today amid Taliban rule. Or rather, the situation of the Afghan women who have been fighting for a free country since the US troops headed towards Kabul and eventually left Afghanistan.
Voodoo Child was born out of terrible and unbearable circumstances, but over the years Mani has used trauma and pain to show how strong women are and what they go through. Mani’s outspoken nature combined with her exquisite film-making style has made her work both evocative, controversial and immersive. Mani’s works gives voice to the many nameless, faceless women who have either not had their platform or have lived a life devoid of freedom, to carve their own destiny. Her work has made waves, remember the 15 women who remained unheard after the Taliban overthrew the regime in Afghanistan; they were one of the many victims in this gruesome tale which covered Mani’s entire work. One can not simple ignore the current events which are unfolding in Afghanistan, the mainstream media has embedded society’s gaze and lines along the format of pre-recorded history which divides the world between ‘Us’ the four cultural losers and ‘Them’ captivating for westerners.
Zahra, one of the featured women in this film, is a military dentist who operates a successful private clinic in pre-Taliban Afghanistan. She is forced to abandon her practice after the Taliban reinstated their rule, as they provided maskable threats to her profession. In a courageous and determined move, she as the bride to be takes a chance to go demonstrate while still balancing her current work. As an outspoken activist, she quickly becomes the leader of the underground movement, forming alongside other activists both meetings and protests. The second activist who stars in the film is Sharifa, a former government employee used to have a promising future ahead of her, but was also torn apart by the enclosement her life with boundaries. And the third woman is Taranom Stewart, who currently resides in Pakistan and helps shred light of these topics while reinforcing the quote: Talibans brutality against women of Afghanistan was normalized and permitted back in the days, which can never be forgiven.
Taranom articulates today a strong woman at the forefront of the fight against violence against women. Jen Z, Norea, Zahra all the participants filmed the cruelty that happened with women, their injustice and oppression. They were filming history transformed through their perspective angered activists yelling “Work, bread, per education” combined with footage from inside their activists homes.
The reality of the situation is, “Bread & Roses” is almost solely the outcome of the recordings that Mani was sent by the other three women and the other participants in the area. Putting together these visual materials provides both a unique perspective about the situation as the audience is provided the first-hand experience and a bit imbalanced narrative which the co-editors Haideh Safiyari and Maria Mavati try to rectify. The good news is, they mostly succeed in their near-impossible task even when the film’s rhythm inevitably drops and changes, the real moments we see are still breathtakingly powerful. And yes, among these tally protesting. These include the everyday in and out of existence; a little fun wedding, and some conversations that float the ‘sisterhood’ as a divine place among women.
In different locations, the beginning and the ending are the most captivating and dramatic segments of Bread & Roses. The inception of the film is focused on the terrifying scene in which the nation is captured by the Taliban forces. The girls’ struggles render an impactful contrast to the former footage, for hundreds of Teenagers are seen to call for the optimistic future they wish for, which is in stark contrast to the baseless ideologies that the rebels had sought to convince them of. Mani reminds the audience through this impressive scene that such girls represent a genuine threat to the stubborn ideals of the Indian man, as long as such girls exist in society calling for freedom, justice and education.
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