Soni Directed by Ivan Ayr
Soni
Directed by Ivan Ayr
Starrings: Geetika Vidya Ohlyan, Saloni Batra, Vikas Shukla, Mohit Chauhan, Himanshu Kohli, Gauri Chakraborty, Mohinder Gujral, Upasya Goswami, Simrat Kaur, Dimple Kaur, Prateek Pachori, Kalpana Jha
Year: 2018
Country: India
Author Review: Roberto Matteucci
Click Here for Italian Version
"It seems that the commands are not commands if I do not raise the voice."
Some years ago, the United Nations performed a statistical survey among the women of New Delhi. The question was simple: did they feel safe when they walked in the street?
Only 5% answered affirmatively, expressing a feeling of security in public spaces, while almost all declared to feel at risk.
In the same survey, the men were also interviewed.
The answer was disturbing:
“Providing a stark picture of the daily realities faced by women and girls, 51 per cent of male reported that they had themselves perpetrated sexual harassment or violence against women and girls in public spaces in Delhi. In the study, 25 per cent said they had done so in the last six months.
In cases of sexual violence, many men blamed women for their behaviour. In the study, three out of four agreed with the statement ‘Women provoke men by the way they dress’ and two men out of five fully or partially agreed with that ‘Women moving around at night deserve to be sexually harassed’.” (1)
Incredibly, 51% say - almost defiantly - to have committed violence or harassment against women. A high and alarming number. Besides, the justification being their victims of female provocations is a shock.
It is Delhi, the capital of India, an impressive city with almost nineteen million inhabitants. (2)
The infamous brutality, against women, is indifferent even in front of the girl baby. It is December 17, 2018; newspapers around the world reported the news of a child hospitalized in serious condition for being raped by a neighbor of forty years old. (3)
The Indians women face so many dramatic situation with courage, without any aid, because their condition is not the only problem in a complicated country like India. So many complexities, often narrate intelligently by the Indian cinema.
In Delhi, 10% of local police are female (4), and they are necessary to help women in difficulty despite themselves being victims of violence.
The Indian director Ivan Ayr treats these themes, with classic realism, in the movie Soni presented at the 75th Venice Film Festival.
Initial scene.
We are in Delhi, India; the prime minister is Narendra Damodardas Modi since 2014.
In a night effect on a devastated road, on the outskirts, a girl rides bike towards her home. A boy, taking advantage of the circumstances and the loneliness of the woman, approaches and begins to annoy her heavily. The girl is Soni. She is a policewoman; in her job, she faces difficult situations, infiltrating in dangerous gangs.
From the beginning, we understand the character of Soni. Instead of escaping from the persecutor, she confronts him decisively, beating him: "Only two slaps and they become whiny."
In reality, the slaps were not two, but many, in fact, Soni has beaten him severely and justly.
Soni is a strong, courageous, fearless woman, ready to challenge, as often happens, risky and uncompromising moments, unconcerned to confront important people.
Yet, when she is at home, Sonia appears weaker. She is Hindu, she immediately lights the incense and prays as soon as she enters. A small, modest but tidy apartment. The author highlights the solitude of the woman in her space. Fortunately, the noisy and intrusive neighboring Naveen fills the place with so much noise. She narrates about the intimate and personal past of Sonia: abortion and the abandonment of her husband.
Sonia is fragile at home, but all her wrath is manifest outside, sometimes with so much hardness and a profound vengeful alteration towards men.
Another woman, Kalpana, Sonia's boss, balances her.
Kalpama tries to protect her, to help her, to be her friend despite the opposition of her official husband, also in the police.
The adventures of Sonia develop outdoors at night, the moment of the greatest fear.
She aggressively arrests a drunken official army because he refused to get out of the car.
Or she mortified two policemen in the park because they were blackmailing a secluded couple.
Or when she discovers a politician's son in a restaurant bathroom. He locked inside with friends for using drugs. Sonia wants to arrest him even though she was alone.
The style of the film is realism, studied in the experience of living daily for a month with the Delhi police:
"It not only brought on the film elements of realism and precision on the police protocol but has profoundly transformed the story." (5)
The story is linear as it should be an Indian film, which has its own acting time.
The personality of Soni is exalted in a long scene when, in his apartment, she arranges the food shopping. There is all her sadness and the world are represented by a radio that broadcasts news from India and Syria.
Calm and silence are logical components by the author:
"Yes, generally the silent moments follow the character of turmoil and confusion, and they are in fact intentional - to give the spectator the possibility to absorb and, I hope, reflect on the chaos. Often there is quiet AFTER the storm. Moreover, silence can represent isolation, more a psychological state than physical, a sort of dark void in which the characters often find themselves. This silence is like an empty black hole, heavy enough to suck the viewer and connect him to what the character is internalizing. It is a powerful connection. So, adding music could adulterate this experience. Once this connection is established, I wish to underline if they (viewers) consciously associate gender roles with what the character is living. " (6)
In order not to disturb realism, the actors go to one side and the camera follows them behind because it doesn’t want bothering.
There are many themes besides women and the context. India is a growing nation but with many problems. Then there is above all the human relationship, sincere between Soni and her boss. A relationship of friendship, of sweetness, also because they are united by a difficult life and by the desire to have justice.
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#Soni #IvanAyr #GeetikaVidyaOhlyan #SaloniBatra #VikasShukla #MohitChauhan #HimanshuKohli #GauriChakraborty #MohinderGujral #UpasyaGoswami #SimratKaur #DimpleKaur #PrateekPachori #KalpanaJha
#India #Delhi #75VeniceFilmFestival #75VeniceFilmFestival #VeniceFilmFestival#VeniceFilmFestival