Monday, July 28, 2008

North Country

She slapped right on my face, I felt, as every male would if he came across this amazingly true and painful story of her.
Jossey Aimes – She had suffered everything a woman could have in this blatantly male dominated society. She was continuously ridiculed even though under the curtains as one having sexually promiscuous behaviour. She was avoided by her father for the insult and agony she brought to the family as a teenage mother. She was beaten up regularly by her rage bubbling husband and when she left him, was held responsible for it. With great resilience when she tried to live further for her two children, working in the ‘mine’ she was dumped with few other fellow women into a hell of hostile male co-workers. In the court when she decided to challenge this harassment at work place, her every wound was opened and scratched again in front of the whole world which could only but sympathise. Finally her agony was completed when she revealed her long held truth- she was brutally raped by her class teacher rendering her pregnant in the tender age which started her amazingly painful journey-her life.
“North country”, a well made film based on a true incident in US in the 1980s, pierces straight into the viewer’s heart due to the sheer power and truthfulness of the subject it chose. In general it depicts the sexual discrimination deeply rooted in our societies while specifically dealing in the context of occupation. It is shocking that such discrimination is present in those scales even in the so called progressive societies as that of USA. Self pondering can make us understand that sexual discrimination is evident in our day to day life in both subtle and obvious proportions which is usually accepted as “one that happens and goes on”.
In between this distressing list of events unfolding in the film there are streaks of goodness all over which makes us filled which joy of being human, with the necessary optimism to look at a better future. The love she gets from her children, the support of some of her friends and the lawyer, and finally of her parents was deeply moving, giving the story a well needed positivity shade.
As a human being we are bound to think deeply upon this issue and first ready our mind for a paradigm shift from the male dominated one we have now. But with the women’s reservation bill stuck in the Indian Parliament for over a decade, when even many of the most anti-people laws are being passed in the house by hook and crook, one thing is for sure. For this to end there is a pretty long road to travel. But the journey will be certainly smoothened with such appreciable efforts like the film ‘North Country’ which is an eye opener to every male chauvinist including this author.