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    Bol

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    arshadfilms@

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    The much-anticipated new film by Shoaib Mansoor, Bol (speak) is now gracing Western screens. It is a great feat for Mansoor and Pakistani cinema. His last hit Khuda que Liye (For God's Sake) did not get wide release. I admire Mansoor and his hard working cast and crew for their dedication to this project. However, there are serious concerns that keep me from joining the masses lauding this film. The Director Shoaib Mansoor is well regarded as a great television writer and director as well as a producer for bands of note such as the era-defining Vytal Signs. His films however are over-the-top melodramas that are not far removed from Bollywood with their caricatured depictions of complex characters and simplification of issues. In Khuda Key Liyay he tackled terrorism but from a strictly middle class Pakistani perspective. His white western characters were uni-dimensional. The dedication of the British man who helps the heroine get out of her trauma is merely brushed off. He is abandoned by her despite their unflinching love for each other. It also showed Pakistani military as a force against terror instead of questioning its contribution to terror. The only Sikh character (the neighbor in the USA) was depicted as the one who sells out the Muslim Pakistani. In fact, Sikh groups were in solidarity with the victims of the 9/11 backlash even more than Muslims and they were also the victims of post 9/11 hate. This oversimplification is presumably educational entertainment for the masses but I would argue that it does more harm than good. The Plot The premise of the film is promising. A poor family man (Manzar Sehbai) stuck with a dying business (he is a herbal medicine practitioner) and a family of seven daughters (one of them a hermaphrodite) A film about a man with seven daughters; one would think that fact in itself would provide a brimful of ideas to work with. One can imagine the life so many women would infuse into a household; their energy, their love and their hope. However, the Khan household is more like a Nazi internment camp with the Khan as Hitler. Lina Wertmuller's Seven Beauties, Gillian Armstrong’s Little Women and Fernando Trueba’s Belle Epoque all deal with households filled with women in times of financial distress and extreme poverty. Those films have complex characters whose trajectory is fully satisfying. With Bol we are left with beautiful actresses portraying helpless imbeciles and ghastly caricatured males that are incontrovertibly either good or evil and nothing in between. The Performances The film was very well cast. Even minor characters like the female reporter and the pimp's sidekick were really intriguing. I wanted to see and hear more of them. One could have such fun with the examination of this hermaphrodite character Saifulla (portrayed wonderfully by Amr Kashmiri) and her view of the world around her (I refer to the character as female as that is who she was inclined towards identifying with in the movie) Alas no interiority was ever divulged except for a desire for drag. Amr Kashmiri had a challenging role to tackle as a brutally rejected child of an ignorant and oppressive father. He is made to be 'artistic' yet a bit of an imbecile who stutters. Laying those thick layers of dysfunction is cruel at the best of times. It made Saifu a pitiful character with next to no dignity so that when he does meet his sad fate, most people in the audience might even feel it was all for the better rather than see it as a heinous crime. As if being raped and molested is not enough, the character has to suffer the further indignity of being murdered at the hands of his father- an honor killing that the town and the family quickly recovers from. There are other outstanding actors in the film who are also not utilized to their full potential. The fiery Humaima Malik plays the only daughter with strength and conviction to challenge her brute father and that too in the most subservient and docile manner. As in most misogynist depictions of strong female characters in cinema, this one too has to die at the end. No happy ending for the outspoken. Quiet subservience always wins over challenging patriarchy and oppression. Shafqat Cheema is arguably the most lovable and hilarious pimp South Asian cinema has ever offered. His performance was convincing. Atif Aslam and Mahira Khan play love interests. They both have the most sympathetic faces that were just not given enough screen time or dialog to show any kind of depth. One assumes Aslam is a sweet fellow because he is the only man that is not revolted (or perversely attracted) to Saifi and even respects the obvious crush Saifi has on him (a really nice touch here) However, I assume Aslam is a pretty sweet fellow in life as in art. Aslam portrays the only decent person in the film. Most of the other men seem to be sex crazed maniacs who collude in child molestation and rape. Apparently straight Pakistani males in the trucking business are attracted to pudgy, mentally challenged, effeminate men. As is the case with most South Asian film directors, Mansour made the hijra (eunuch) who comes to take away the hermaphrodite child, a most unattractive and hideous looking creature to be detested even more than the vile father himself. The fact that the hijra is the darkest skinned person in the entire film is also a matter reflective of white supremacy within Pakistani society. Class: Mansoor's film helps perpetuates the status quo while ignoring the elephant in the room that is class in Pakistani society. Happiness is associated with consumerism. Consumerism is represented as a positive middle class value. The family have to hide the television from their father. They are not allowed to go shopping. Bol addresses subject matter often overlooked by mainstream Pakistani cinema but never delves into those issues below the surface level. Bol leaves the audience dumfounded with its extreme depictions of characters. The father is a vile creature unable to comprehend the world in any way other than his own. He keeps trying to marry his daughters off to unsuitable men despite a failed attempt with the first one. He keeps his daughters from getting educated past grade five even though the school is right next door. He is respected in the community as the healer hakim (herbipath) despite his awful behaviour towards his wife and children. He has friends but they never visit or invite his family over and the girls have no friends at all. Mansoor is very heavy handed. Bol normalizes oppressive, dysfunctional, middle class norms of Pakistani society such as its concepts of ‘decent’ women and ‘good boys’ being obedient and pious. It perpetuates the status quo and gives credence to power hierarchy in Pakistani society- the noble president makes progressive gestures. The 'normal' guy is fun loving and family oriented yet just the right amount of religious. I would like to think that the Pakistani audience need no longer be spoon fed. Western audiences too know enough about South Asia and international cinema to detect dishonesty in representations of South Asians in cinema. The Politics Bol is a perverse film masquerading as a progressive work. It is morally, emotionally and cinematically muddled because it does not actually care to dwell in the hearts and minds of the character it depicts long enough to give them their own voice. The characters are merely landscape in their own melodrama. I do not think Bol does anything to further the cause of women or sexual minorities in Pakistan. It normalizes extreme behaviours such as violence within families and perpetuates stereotypes of 'truck drivers' as sexually deviant child molesters and eunuchs as perpetual recruiters for sexual minorities. It removes responsibility from the state despite considering it corrupt at every level. The president is somehow not only very white but also a noble man sitting at the top of the privilege ladder who will be affected by television news and make things better for all. Real life dictator Parvez Musharraf did nothing for 'Mukhtara Mai' whose rape case (and that of her brother's) brought international embarrassment to his government. I like the parallel between the pious Mr Khan in white and the pimp who wears black. The pimp however seems much happier and treated his women with more dignity than the pious family man. As if her attraction was not baffling enough, why Iman Ali's character Meena would hand over her daughter to this brutal man who holds his family hostage and treats his daughters like tripe is also a mystery. The Shia/ Sunni divide and its treatment is also very dubious. Shia's are 'naturally' more open minded about sex trade work than are the ultra pious Sunnis. Shia indulge in prostitution but not Sunnis. It is subtle but this pro-Sunni bias is definitely there in the film. Technical Aspects technically the film takes focus pulling to a whole new level with confounding rack focuses that leave the viewers confused about where to look. The cinematography was inconsistent and I am assuming different stocks were used because the color was inconsistent from one shot to the next within the same scene (as in the song with the whole family) Perhaps hasty post color correction is to blame. The sound and ADR also leave something to be desired. The film was shot in studio so there is no excuse for bad voiceover. The media scrum around the prisoner that is to be executed plays out like a theatrical farce. The flashback device fails because the whole scenario is too unlikely to suspend disbelief. There is definitely some thought in art direction but that too is unnecessarily over the top as a boy would not be dwelling in a 17th century castle bedroom. The film has the esthetic of an Alper’s milk commercial with some delicious tracking shots through the Badshahi mosque which would be more suitable in a commercial but do nothing to further the story here. The music in the film is also not remarkable. The soundtrack is oppressive and orchestrating emotions, trying to pull tears out of the audience. There is no time to breathe and just take it in. When Khuda que Liyay came out, everyone said the film should not be criticized, as it is a good attempt from a flailing film industry. What excuse will we have for Bol? Mansoor is the only filmmaker representing Pakistan internationally. As such it is important that his work be examined in detail so that it may perhaps improve. Cinematic representation is a window into the heart of the country and its artistic milieu. In my opinion Bol does not speak truth to the masses. Bol does not speak truth to power. Like Khuda it effectively sidesteps the issue of class division in Pakistan as the root cause for socio-political unrest. It also fails to target cultural norms of patriarchy imbued in religious practice that are stifling Pakistani society. It definitely reinforces negative stereotypes of sexual minorities and reinforces homophobia by depicting homosexual attraction as a mental illness. It works against any progressive feminist agenda by not empowering any of the surviving female characters with a voice. It effectively says that if you want things to change around you, then effectively ‘Mut Bol’ (Don’t speak) and let others fight your fight for you. If you speak out or dare to be different you will end up dead. Perhaps martyred, but definitely… dead!

    4
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    arshadfilms@  8.9.2011 age: 36-49 81 reviews

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