Feminine Issues #2: Whale Rider

"A long time ago, my ancestor Paikea came to this place on the back of a whale. Since then, in every generation of my family, the first born son has carried his name and become the leader of our tribe... until now."

Release Year: 2002

Country: New Zealand

Genre: Social drama/family drama

Director: Niki Caro

Screenwriter: Niki Caro

Cinematography: Leon Narbey

Music: Lisa Gerrard

Editing: David Coulson

Actors: Keisha Castle-Hughes, Rawiri Paratane, Vicky Haughton, Cliff Curtis

No, Whale Rider is not a story about a kid who befriends a whale and ends up riding it. It is, however, a story of a young girl's struggle to overcome the gender barrier that separates her from the leadership of her tribe. Adapted from Witi Ihimaera's novel of the same name, it is a beautiful look at a Maori community as well as a study on conservative and widespread cultural belief to rejects female leadership. The 'whale rider' itself is an integral historical part of the tribe in this story, who believes that their ancestor comes into the land by riding on a whale's back.

For years, the honor of leading the tribe always falls to the first-born son in a patrilineal line of descendants. However, the tradition is in danger as the son of current leader, Porourangi (Curtis), opted to leave his homeland after the childbirth death of his wife and baby son. The only one left is Porourangi's daughter, Pai (Hughes), who grew into a headstrong teenager and more than willing to step up for the leadership. However, Pai's grandfather Koro (Paratane) refused to acknowledge her as a future leader simply because  the fact that she is a female. 

So, we got our main conflict: a 12-year old girl who wants to prove herself, and her grandfather who is all like, "Uh-huh, you're a sweet girl and I love you, but you can't lead because you're a woman, for god's sake." However, it would be a mistake to assume that gender politic is what Whale Rider all about. It is also about the collision of  familial love and self-ideals, the preservation of traditional cultural values, and the youths' growing apathy toward their own culture. The irony is prevalent in the story: in order to breed a new leader, Koro felt the need to set up cultural courses and edification for the boys in the tribe, while at the same time ignoring the fact that there is already one very qualified and most culturally aware youth very near to him: his granddaughter. 

I like how the film portrays Pai: she is a realistic and likable protagonist. Pai is a natural leader, won an inter-school speech contest, and also eventually becoming very good at taiaha (the local stick-fighting culture), but she also displays occasional moments of emotional weaknesses. She almost gave up due to her grandpa's treatment and choose to go with his father instead. However, eventually her passion and love toward her homeland and its culture won out, and that above all is the highlight of her personality.

 

We are not meant to treat Pai as a mini Wonder Woman, and we are also not meant to treat Koro as the anti-female antagonist. In order to overcome old stereotypes, we don't necessarily have to create other new stereotypes to replace them. This can also be seen from other characters; since there is a message to embrace and love your culture, does it mean that Pai's father is bad for leaving his home for an art career in Germany? No, because he pursued his ideal and what he really believes in. A boy named Hemi (one of Koro's students in the cultural course) eventually lost in a taiaha sparring against Pai, does it automatically make him an inferior human being compared to Pai? No, because Hemi himself could also grow into a great person, having potential and also showing sympathy toward Pai.

The conflict resolution is probably not going to surprise anyone: Pai eventually grown into a more accomplished and greater young woman, winning her grandfather's approval at the end (through a rather sensational, yet beautiful, climax involving a real stranded whale). Yet, a conventional and predictable ending almost does not matter as long as the journey to get there is special enough, and I can say that Whale Rider is full of insightful special moments: the whole sequence when Koro drills mental strength into his taiaha students, the many intimate family scenes that manages to say a lot about each of the family members presented, the sight of Pai practicing traditional songs and dances, and many more.

Pai's ascension into becoming the first female leader of her tribe should not be seen as a show of feminine power overcoming male dominance, as it won't be possible without the influence of many males around him; her father, her uncle, her friend, and even her stubborn yet loving grandfather. There is simply a lot more in Whale Rider than just being a "women can be a leader and kick men's asses!!" narrative: it is a great introduction to those of us unfamiliar with Maori culture, the spectacle is beautiful, and the naturalistic acting is great (Hughes and Paratane in particular, have excellent chemistry). Most of all though, it is a powerful reflection on gender, tribal, and individual identities. If or when I ever have a daughter, I know one of my top priorities would be to show her this movie.

Feminine Issues #1: 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days

"...Let's not talk about this ever again."

Release Year: 2008
Country: Romania
Genre: Social drama
Director: Cristian Mungiu
Screenwriter: Cristian Mungiu
Cinematography: Oleg Mutu
Sound: Constantin Fleancu
Editing: Dana Bunescu
Actors: Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, Vlad Ivanov

Unwanted pregnancy and the inevitable dilemma that comes after it is possibly the biggest internal conflict a human being could ever have, and consequently has been used as dramatic plot instrument in countless stories. Somewhat surprisingly though, 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days is not really about the choice of keeping the baby or not. The choice was already made by the pregnant character to abort it, and there is barely any discussion regarding that decision. Instead, it is about the external elements of the abortion process, not on the moral implication of the practice itself or any 'will-I-or-won't-I' internal drama.

Our main protagonist is the blond Otilia Mihartescu (Marinca), the college roommate of Gabriela Dragut (Vasiliu), who is pregnant (the age of her pregnancy is right there on the title, although Gabriela initially lied about it). The two are planning to have abortion on Gabriela by using the service of one Mr. Bebe (Ivanov). However, abortion was an illegal practice during the times of the Communist Romania, and Otilia (who is in charge of all the arrangement) has to pass numerous obstacles as she tries to help her troubled friend.

The most interesting thing about 4 Months is that it focused much more on the pregnant girl's friend. We are put in Otilia's point of view for most of the time, and thus we come to learn how she arranges the meeting with Mr. Bebe, how she struggles with hotel registration, and how she still does all this even though she has important appointment with her boyfriend's family on the same day. In comparison, we hardly know anything about Gabriela, except that she seems to be a mostly clueless girl who is content enough to leave everything in Otilia's hands; we're also not told about the how, where, and with whom she got pregnant. This is an interesting approach, and what separates 4 Months from other movies featuring similar theme.


One of several widely praised Romanian movies in the late 2000s (Death of Mr. Lazarescu, 12:08 East of Bucharest), 4 Months is an artful 'new wave' film with long camera takes, minimalist style, and dense themes. It is also very low on exposition, a sign that best signifies the movie's unconventionality and its respect toward the audience's intelligence. Instead of being told explicitly about the whole context of the story, we are left to logically deduce what is going on by watching the characters' (mostly Otilia) actions. Like many movies of this kind, dialogues exist not as a tool to inform the audience, but as a natural representation of real life conversations.

There is a lot of things happened in 4 Months, but many of them are only being implied and never discussed outright.

[Spoiler]

One such scenes happens right before the abortion is performed. Mr. Bebe, who is already made disgruntled by the imperfect arrangement (despite Otilia's best efforts), eventually demanded Otilia and Gabriela to have sex with him as a form of payment for the service. And yet, no explicit words or scenes are shown; we merely see Bebe making a subtle demand, the quiet understanding on the girls' face, and then the girls taking turns visiting bathroom. In other more conventional movies, we would have seen angry arguments, tears, and perhaps even the sex scenes themselves; in 4 Months, it is entirely possible to even miss this crucial event by not paying enough attention. Such a bold and classy approach, even if I had to watch the sequence a few times to finally realize what had happened.


There are many political references in the film, made during Otilia's struggle to secure a safe location for the abortion and in a lengthy dinner scene between her and her boyfriend's family (she slipped out in-between the abortion to fulfill this appointment, but eventually has to come back to help out Gabriela some more). Those are meant to highlight oppressive government of Romania at that time (late 1980s), and while serve as an interesting backdrop, the most striking thing I find from the movie is on the relationship aspect between Otilia and Gabriela.

As we watch Otilia being an absolute great friend despite the many frustrating things that keep happening, questions naturally arise. Does she truly care for Gabriela, or she did all that merely due to a sense of duty as a friend? Does she wonder if Gabriela will do the same thing to her if their positions were reversed? What will happen to their friendship after the whole thing ends? Those questions are not answered, at least not explicitly, but the film had already done enough to give a great insight into a sample of female friendship dynamic.


4 Months is a great and very affecting movie, in spite (because?) of its anti-melodramatic tone. It takes a familiar conflict and looks at it from a different angle; not on the dilemma of having an unborn at the wrong time, but on the easier-said-than-done action of standing by your friend. A lot of people should be able to empathize with Otilia as she stands alone in the bathroom, looking at a glass mirror with a tired and hollow expression that may say, "Are all this...really worth it?"

Special Feature: Feminine Issues

"How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!" (Maya Angelou)

I don't have the exact figure, but I'm 100% certain that from all the movies that have ever been produced in the world, there would be much more male protagonists and characters than female ones. The narrative of a male hero saving a woman in trouble is one of the oldest ever conceived by human minds, and in 1985, author Alison Bechdel developed a set of parameters (later called 'Bechdel Test') to judge the strength of women's presence in movies; a vast majority of movies unsurprisingly failed the test. Worse, some movies are even downright misogynistic in how it openly mocks and undermines the importance of their female characters.

However, there is still a minority group of movies starring not only well-defined female characters, but also having them doing something other than just being the object of male characters' desire. Even as early as 1928, Renée Jeanne Falconetti gave a stunning performance as historical figure Jeanne D'Arc in The Passion of Joan D'Arc, widely regarded as one of the greatest silent movies ever; and who can forget the enigmatic wife character from Rashomon?

In the modern era of globalism, feminism, and other such -isms floating around, it is not surprising anymore to see the likes of Hollywood churning out movies featuring Sigourney Weaver (Alien series), Angelina Jolie (Tomb Raider, Wanted, Salt), Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil), and others as bad-ass female heroines. And yet, empowerment could be portrayed in a far deeper and more various ways than just giving huge guns to female characters and letting them kill bad guys with it.

Through the ages, the womankind had been experiencing issues and problems that a lot of males have no hope in fully comprehend, let alone empathize with. Hence, the focus of this particular feature, which assess movies that not only feature a female as its major character, but also explore distinctly feminine issues and themes from either biological, social, psychological, or political viewpoints. Pregnancy, maternal instinct, sexism, and dynamic in female relationship are among the themes prevalent in those movies, and to put them in spotlight is my tribute to the God's creatures that may occasionally confuse and aggravate me, but also ones I often adore and deeply respect.