movie review: Provoked

This is my first post, ten minutes just before lunch. I've recently watched the movie Provoked, a movie about domestic violence in London featuring Aishwarya Rai. The main actors in the movie, namely Aishwarya Rai, Naveen Andrews, and Miranda Richardson portray their characters very well. Richardson is an absolute delight to watch as Rai's cellmate. Although Rai's complexion and hair is flawless throughout the movie (despite being in prison), she manages to flesh out a woman suffering domestic abuse for ten years, and finally snaps by killing her husband the abuser. Naveen Andrews is a convincing villain, though slightly two-dimensional, due to no fault of his.

Typically, villains in these sort of movies are not explored enough, which I find a pity. Perhaps, the scriptwriters in Provoked did not want to risk evoking sympathy for the villain by carving out his background, which would create his capacity and will for domestic violence. Yet, it is this very thing which might help resolve the issue of domestic violence. A lot of the time, most of the attention is focused on women, and thus, most action is taken to help them. Nothing wrong with that, but then, the source of the problem is not addressed--it is the men who commit the violence. What causes a man to do such a terrible thing as abuse? Who teaches him that it is all right to do so? What are the cultural, psychological, societal forces that shape his mind to view women as objects of his possession?

Provoked does a good job at exposing the reality of domestic violence in London, and how it is pathetically treated by authorities. It also shows that the suffering a domestic violence survivor faces does not stop at the disappearance of her abuser. It continues the moment she steps into court. One of the scenes in Provoked is of the husband raping his wife. In Malaysia presently, there are no marital rape laws, compared to countries like South Korea, Thailand and Japan, just to name a few.

Another thing which my feminist friend brought up (which I didn't notice) is that Provoked is rather stereotypical. According to her, the movie stereotyped the men as rational, and women as emotional. Looking back, the feminists who try to help the abused women were portrayed as emotional, passionate creatures who lost their cool rather quickly. The men who ally with the feminists, instead, are seen as rational--calmly devising effective ways to help the abused women. Then again, I believe that men are naturally more rational than women. After all, it is the female gender that nurses infants. Biologically speaking, the protective warm emotions that a mother feels towards her infant is useful for motivating her to protect her infant at all costs, ensuring his survival. Biology discriminates. That's a fact.

My recommendation: watch the movie. It does open up your eyes to the violence that goes on in society. Plus, Aishwarya Rai is eye candy.