<p>Georgian director Déa Kulumbegashvili’s second feature <em>April</em> premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Prize. It was also the best among the films screened at this year’s edition of the Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes), which concluded on March 8.</p>.<p><em>April</em> is set in rural Georgia, and talks about abortion, a topic more relevant now than ever before, with countries like the US passing stringent laws restricting it. Nina, the protagonist, is an obstetrician who helps women seeking abortions. Abortion is illegal in Georgia if the foetus is 12 weeks old.</p>.<p><em>April </em>isn’t your regular ‘black and white’ film about women vs the government. It raises larger questions and depicts profound pain and loss. Symbols and metaphors portray the harsh realities of patriarchy in the most bizarre way. Silences can be eerie — the director uses it to pose uncomfortable questions. </p>.<p>Similarly, subtle can be powerful. The subtlety of the seven-minute real time abortion scene is likely to haunt audiences forever. The pain, fear and vulnerability of the woman undergoing abortion is depicted with her trembling hands and shivering thighs. It is later revealed that she is deaf and mute.</p>.<p>Nina is accused of negligence when she delivers a stillborn child. In defence, she says bluntly, the mother was happy. A few minutes into the film, the audience witnesses a top angle shot of natural birth. The mother howls, the doctor sighs, and the baby doesn’t cry. Soon enough, we witness the mother sigh in grief and relief.</p>.<p>A woman may not want to bear a child for many reasons — she could be a victim of rape, even marital rape. Also, in any working class, women dread having another mouth to feed. Nina is both an outcast and an angel in the community.</p>.<p>A distorted figure of a woman appears at brief intervals. Is it a representation of the protagonist’s soul? If a woman’s body looked like her soul, stained and torn asunder by patriarchy, she would perhaps look just like that. The shrinking size of the flowers, in a series of three landscape shots, is also intriguing as a metaphor. Kulumbegashvili’s style is provocative, surreal and socially critical.</p>.<p>In her debut film <em>Beginning,</em> Kulumbegashvili tells the story of a woman, wife of a Jehovah’s Witness leader. The character is confined within the patriarchal religious community, and her life spirals out of control when their Kingdom Hall is attacked by extremists.</p>.<p>‘Beginning’ is streaming on Mubi.</p>
<p>Georgian director Déa Kulumbegashvili’s second feature <em>April</em> premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Prize. It was also the best among the films screened at this year’s edition of the Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes), which concluded on March 8.</p>.<p><em>April</em> is set in rural Georgia, and talks about abortion, a topic more relevant now than ever before, with countries like the US passing stringent laws restricting it. Nina, the protagonist, is an obstetrician who helps women seeking abortions. Abortion is illegal in Georgia if the foetus is 12 weeks old.</p>.<p><em>April </em>isn’t your regular ‘black and white’ film about women vs the government. It raises larger questions and depicts profound pain and loss. Symbols and metaphors portray the harsh realities of patriarchy in the most bizarre way. Silences can be eerie — the director uses it to pose uncomfortable questions. </p>.<p>Similarly, subtle can be powerful. The subtlety of the seven-minute real time abortion scene is likely to haunt audiences forever. The pain, fear and vulnerability of the woman undergoing abortion is depicted with her trembling hands and shivering thighs. It is later revealed that she is deaf and mute.</p>.<p>Nina is accused of negligence when she delivers a stillborn child. In defence, she says bluntly, the mother was happy. A few minutes into the film, the audience witnesses a top angle shot of natural birth. The mother howls, the doctor sighs, and the baby doesn’t cry. Soon enough, we witness the mother sigh in grief and relief.</p>.<p>A woman may not want to bear a child for many reasons — she could be a victim of rape, even marital rape. Also, in any working class, women dread having another mouth to feed. Nina is both an outcast and an angel in the community.</p>.<p>A distorted figure of a woman appears at brief intervals. Is it a representation of the protagonist’s soul? If a woman’s body looked like her soul, stained and torn asunder by patriarchy, she would perhaps look just like that. The shrinking size of the flowers, in a series of three landscape shots, is also intriguing as a metaphor. Kulumbegashvili’s style is provocative, surreal and socially critical.</p>.<p>In her debut film <em>Beginning,</em> Kulumbegashvili tells the story of a woman, wife of a Jehovah’s Witness leader. The character is confined within the patriarchal religious community, and her life spirals out of control when their Kingdom Hall is attacked by extremists.</p>.<p>‘Beginning’ is streaming on Mubi.</p>